The Akatsuki Had Twins?
by Artemis Nox
Summary: What happens when the Akatsuki feels threatened by two psycho teens? It's all right here in a story about a girl, her identical twin sister, and the loving group of people that want to...exterminate them? Rated for a certain SOMEONE'S language.
1. The Event That Started it All

A piercing, blood-curdling scream split the air, causing startled birds to fly away from its source. The ground rumbled, and into a clearing burst a burly man, no less than seven feet tall. He was chasing after a girl, whom he could break like a toothpick if he tried. But this girl, this simple little girl, was just giggling like the silly creature she is.

"Stop movin'!" the giant yelled as he swung around his sledgehammer, trying to crush the girl. The girl didn't listen, she just kept dancing around the man, shrieking with laughter.

"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" she sang. Her game was short lived though, for as she turned to face the man again, she noticed something horrible. Something sharp was protruding from the man's chest. Blood was pouring from the spot of impalement in gallons. The giant could only mutter a few words before the thing was yanked from his body and he fell heavily to the ground,

"You…wench."

**A/N: Sorry for the super short chapter, but in all honesty, it's more of a prologue than a chapter. I just want you to get the feel of the story, kay? Oh, and before I forget… this story is PRE-Tobi. Sorry for all the Tobi lover's out there, but I loves my Sasori too much. Maybe I'll add him later. Anyways, please review! The next, longer, chapter should be out soon! Arigatou!**


	2. Trouble in the Land of Lightning?

**Disclamer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations.**

* * *

"Sasori-danna! I'm so boooored! When's our next mission, un?"

"Why are you asking me this? If you want to know so badly, go ask our leader."

"But what if he yells at me again?"

"Maybe you need to be yelled at."

"Danna, how could you be so mean, un!"

"Deidara, how could you be so stupid!"

"Okay now you're just mocking me."

"What gave you the hint?" As the two artists continued to bicker childishly, some of the other members of the Akatsuki stood silently in the background, hoping, practically praying, that their "disagreement" would resort to violence.

"I'm so bored. Why have things been so slow lately?" Kisame asked no one in particular.

* "It makes no fucking sense! We sit around in this fucking hideout all fucking day, while SOMEONE is out doing whatever he fucking wants! We're your subordinates dammit! Make sure WE have something to do before you fucking run off!" Hidan burst.

"Hidan, scream in my ear ONE more time!" Hidan's partner, Kakuzu, threatened.

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I'll sew your fricken mouth shut!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Is that a challenge?" Of course, with the new argument showing promise of blood shed, the Akatsuki members turned their attention to the bickering partners. Even Deidara and Sasori turned their heads to watch.

"Damn straight it's a challenge!" Hidan yelled.

"Bring it!" Kakuzu growled.

"No YOU bring it!" And so the fight began. Kakuzu launched himself at Hidan's throat, and succeeded at grabbing him. Hidan held onto Kakuzu's wrist, trying to pry away the choking hand while repeatedly kicking him in the stomach.

"Popcorn, Kisame?" Itachi asked calmly, as he held out a bowl of the freshly popped snack.

"Sure," Kisame chuckled grabbing a handful and shoving it into his mouth.

"Bite his head, un!" Deidara hollered, egging Hidan on.

"Hit him below the belt!" Sasori shouted, rooting for Kakuzu. This all continued for a while as Hidan and Kakuzu kept on fighting. All of the fun was interrupted when a shadowy figure walked into the room. The person seized Hidan by the hair and Kakuzu by the collar. When they were pulled apart, Hidan looked up and muttered, "Oh, shit."

Itachi cowered behind Kisame, who was choking on popcorn. Deidara and Sasori stood silently across the room, pretending not to notice the scene. "What the hell is wrong with you two!" Pein bellowed, shaking the room.

"He started it," Kakuzu said rather quickly.

"WHAT! No, it's Kakuzu's fault!" Hidan screamed.

"Both of you shut up, or I'll kill you!" They fell silent immediately. Pein dropped them on the ground and resisted the urge to stomp them. Just then Konan walked by and stood in the doorway.

"Did you tell them yet?" she asked.

"No. I had to get these idiots off of each other." Pein said as he pinched the bridge of his nose *(2) and shook his head slowly. Konan looked around the room once, then stared at the back wall and said simply,

"Your fish is dying." Pein turned to Kisame, who was on the ground now, and watched him as he choked.

"Get him some water."

"Y-yes sir!" a trembling Itachi shouted and ran from the room to fetch the water.

* * *

~Minutes Later~

All the members of the Akatsuki, save Zetsu, sat around a large circular table, waiting to hear Pein's announcement. With Itachi no longer cowering, Kisame no longer dying, Sasori and Deidara no longer shouting, and Hidan and Kakuzu no longer fighting, Pein could finally concentrate and deliver the news.

"A majority of our spies in the Land of Lightning have been taken out recently, " he began. "This is greatly hindering our progress in finding what we want there. I'm not sure what it is that-"

"Just get to the fucking point already!" Hidan interrupted.

"I'm building suspense dammit!" Pein retorted.

"Hidan, watch your mouth," Konan hissed. *(3)

"ANYWAY," Pein started, raising his voice. "I'm not sure what it is that's hacking down our men like trees at a lumber yard, but whatever it is is going to pay… I'll be sending two of you out there to capture it and bring it back to me… ALIVE."

"Who's going, un?" Deidara asked with glimmering eyes.

"Who wants to go?" Pein asked.

"I do!" everyone at the table yelled. Konan tugged at her ear to get it to stop ringing and Pein shook his head to do the same.

"Okay, time to draw straws," Pein said when he could hear again. Konan pulled out a box of straws from under the table and held it out to Pein. Pein grabbed six, cut two in half and discarded halves he had cut off. *(4) He used his amazing skills and shuffled the straws quickly. Then he held them in his hand so that they all looked to be of equal length. "Pick."

They drew the straws… *(5)

"Yes! We won!" Itachi shrieked to Kisame.

"Road trip!" Kisame squealed.

"Aw man," Deidara sighed as he looked at his long straw. *(6)

"You guys suck!" Sasori yelled and folded his arms.

"Curses," Kakuzu muttered.

"What the fuck! How the hell do YOU two always end up going somewhere! You cheated! I just know you did. Look Pein! Itachi has his Sharingan on! He's a fucking cheat!" Sure enough, Itachi had on his Sharingan.

"I never said you couldn't cheat," Pein said simply.

"Ooooo, best idea! Wait a minute, un!" Deidara exclaimed. He wrapped the tiniest bit of clay around his straw. With one quick motion, he did a hand sign and there was a miniature explosion. Half of his straw flew off. *(7) "I can go too!"

"Uh, no," Pein said. "You should've done that before Itachi and Kisame revealed their straws."

"Awww…."

"Oh, just let him go," Konan said. *(8)

"What?" Pein nearly screamed.

"Let him go."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"N-," Evil glare from Konan. "Oh, alright he can go."

"Yay! Road trip Sasori-danna!"

"He's not going," Pein stated bluntly.

"Just let him go," Konan said.

"No."

"Yes."

"No"

"Do we REALLY have to go through this again?"

"No… Okay you can go Sasori."

"Woot! Let's go!" Sasori shouted.

"Hey, what about us?" Hidan demanded.

"No, you're going to have to stay here so I can wash your mouth out." Konan said.

"Do I have to stay too?" Kakuzu asked as innocently as possible, which was not very.

"Yep," Pein answered.

"Why?"

"Because you're his partner. You stick together, no matter what."

"Darn…"

***: Please excuse Hidan's bad language. Konan and I have told him REPEATEDLY to stop, but he never listens.**

***(2): I just hope it doesn't hurt him, with all of those rods he has going through there….**

***(3): Did I not tell you that we were on him about his foul mouth? But he's so hard-headed….**

***(4): Actually, he just threw it across the table at Hidan.**

***(5): Yes, this was totally random…I even had this entire complicated process to ensure it was fair. But, the results are what they are…. So I changed things up a bit. ^^**

***(6): I should rewrite this…it doesn't sound right.**

***(7): It hit Hidan.**

***(8): Someone has a soft spot for Deidara… **

**P.S. Expect a lot of these…. I can't help but to make stupid comments. Sorry if it irks you!**

**A/N: This took longer than I thought… Oops. Oh well! Hope You enjoyed it! I'll get started on Chapter 3 soon! Please Review! I know I sound annoying but bear with me! Arigatou**!


	3. Banana from the Sky?

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_ or any of its associations.**

* * *

"Hey, Sasori-danna?" *

"Now what do you want?"

"Why are you so short?"

"WHAT did you just say!" Sasori would have popped a blood vessel if he had any.

"I was wondering why you're so short, un…."

"Shut up, you and your gay, Barbie-looking self!"

"I don't look like Barbie!"

"Have you SEEN yourself?"

"As a matter of fact, I have!"

"Well maybe you need to look again!"

"I don't need to, un!"

"How about you-"

"Will you two shut up!" Kisame bellowed.

There was silence.

"Are we there yet,un?"

"Shut up Deidara!" Kisame yelled at the girly man.

"I just wanted to know…"

"Yes Deidara, we are in the Land of Lighting."

"No one asked you Uchiha, un!"

Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling noise in the background.

"That sounds like trouble. Which way do we go?" Kisame asked.

"It sounds like it's coming from the east." Itachi said.

"To the east!" Kisame boomed.

"That may not be necessary…It sounds like its getting closer," Itachi explained.

"Woot! Bring it bishes!"

"Kisame are you okay?" Sasori asked the shark man.

"I think he forgot to take his medicine today, un."

Something flew out of the trees and into the air above the group. Everyone looked up stupidly, and the object fell downwards. As it spiraled towards the ground, the eyes and heads of the Akatsuki members followed it.

Thud! The ground shook horribly when the object collided with it. The Akatsuki members stood there for a good five minutes or so, just staring at the object.

"So…what is it?" Sasori asked.

"A banana from the sky, un!"

"A horseshoe?" Itachi said dumbly as he twirled his finger in his hair. Kisame then quickly slapped Itachi upside the back of his head. *(2)

"Don't EVER do that again." Kisame turned his attention back to the object in front of them.

"It looks like a giant boomerang." *(3) All of a sudden a girl *(4) spun out from behind the boomerang.

"Wow, I'm dizzy…" she giggled. This out of the blue comment was rewarded with a blank look from the group in front of her. "Hiiiiii!" she sang to them as she leaned against the boomerang for support. The four Akatsuki members just stood there and continued to stare at the girl. Some just blankly staring (Deidara), some wondering who the heck she was (Sasori), some trying to decide whether or not she was prettier than they were (Itachi), and others sizing her up (Kisame, the only logical one apparently), trying to see if she could survive in battle. _I guess she's okay looking… _Itachi thought to himself. The girl was in fact very pretty. With her waist-length flowing raven hair, her bright emerald green eyes and her flawless porcelain white skin, one might have thought she was a goddess. That is, they would have if it were not for the ridiculously stupid look she had plastered on her face.

Sasori was still wondering just where in the world did the girl come from, since he hadn't seen or sensed her before she emerged. In looked like a complete idiot that fell from the sky. Wait…this girl? She fell from the sky? Impossible! Unless…she must have been holding onto the boomerang! Yes, that's it! The only logical explanation! These were such thoughts that flew through Sasori's mind. _She looks pretty weak…_ Kisame thought. _Just a little girl, _*(5) _there's not much harm she could do, except piss me off to make my head explode…_

Deidara was the first to speak. "Who are you, un?"

The girl stood up straight, looked at the boy, and tilted her head. "Huh?"

"He asked you who you were," Kisame said rather gruffly.

"Oh," the girl said rather simply. "I don't have to tell you that, silly!" She covered her mouth as she giggled. Completely dazed by her answer, Deidara just stood there and gaped. The girl then added, "But you can tell me who YOU are if you like."

"We asked first," Kisame argued.

"No, HE did." the girl retorted with an exasperated tone as she pointed to Deidara. "So the rest of you have to go before I do since I asked second."

"Um…" Sasori said quietly. But before he or anyone else could speak, the earth started to rumble again.

"Oh crap…" the girl muttered as she turned around. Out from the trees burst a savage man. "Well it looks like you found me!" she called out to him.

"You killed my brother, you wench!" he cried. *(6)

"What," the girl gasped. "I did no such thing!"

"I know it was you! I saw you murder him in cold blood!" the giant cretin shrieked as he swung his mace *(7) towards her.

There was a loud, resounding cracking noise when the spiked ball made contact with the oversized boomerang the girl held in front of her.

_She's pretty fast, _Kisame thought to himself. _I guess it's only to be expected from someone so small._

The girl gave a slight grunt of effort as she flung the mace head off of her boomerang-made-shield. The man, surprised that she not only blocked but returned his attack, stumbled backwards as the ball of death flew behind him. The girl turned her attention to the damaged side of her weapon.

"Look what you've done!" she screamed, staring down at the splintered side of the boomerang. "Now nee-chan will yell at me!" Just then she thrusted the weapon into the ground, She kept pushing until it was completely buried. She stepped back and quickly did three hand signs. _Uma, Saru, Mi… _She muttered something and the ground suddenly snapped together. *(8) "That should hold it in place while I make you sorry for what you did!"

"Not if I do the same to you first!" the beastly man hollered as he charged forward. The girl braced herself for impact, but the impact never came. When she looked up she noticed that the man had stopped in his tracks. He staggered forward slightly, then collapsed to the ground with the head of a kusarigama protruding from his back. The chain of the weapon led to the hands of a second girl who looked exactly like the first. The only difference was that this girl had the expression of someone who was deadly serious all of the time.

"Neeeeee-chan! You never let me do anything anymore!" the first girl cried.

"That's because you have already proved yourself to be incompetent," the second girl stated icily.

"That hurt my feelings," the first cooed.

The second girl started to respond but held her tongue when she noticed the four Akatsuki members standing behind her sister, the first girl. She wanted to know who they were and why they were just standing there, but she decided to ask questions later…if they survived. "Okay, here's your chance to redeem yourself," the second girl replied to the first. "I want you to kill them," she said motioning to the group. "All of them."

"Hai!" the first girl shouted. She turned around to face the cloaked figures and began to talk. "Since you're going to die, I'll introduce myself! I am Naoshime Kira of Kumogakure! *(9) And I will attack… you first!" she squealed in delight as she pointed to Deidara.

The second girl shook her head slowly, wondering why her sister was such an idiot. The first girl charged at Deidara, but stopped suddenly and turned to face he sister. "The giant man broke my weapon," she said innocently. The second girl resisted the urge to choke her sister and sighed.

* * *

***: My brother gave me the idea for this chapter's opening. There, I credited him.  
*****(2): My other brother gave me the idea for this... See, I credited him too.  
*****(3): Sorry for the lack of creativity for the weapon, but I've always imagined it this way and I didn't know how to change it.  
*****(4): Yesh, it is the girl from the first chapter.  
*****(5): Gasp! You sexist Kisame!  
*****(6): Yesh, he is referring to the man from the first chapter.  
*****(7): My brother gave me the idea for his weapon, which is good because I wasn't getting anything.****  
*****(8): I know this part was completely and utterly pointless, but I had major writers' block and I had to put something to get things running up there.  
*****(9): Kumogakure is the Hidden Cloud Village which is located in the Land of Lightning... Just in case you needed the refresher! ^^**

**A/N: Yeah, I was half brain dead when I wrote this one apparently... You can tell because I asked my BROTHERS for help. I feel so low... T.T Well, I hope you enjoyed it anyway! Please review! The fourth chapter should be out soon! Arigatou!  
**


	4. A Battle Between the ColdHearted Pt 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations.**

* * *

"Naoshime, this is all your fault," the second girl muttered.

"How is it my fault, Nataru-chan? YOU were the one fighting,"

"If you hadn't gotten your weapon broken, the I could've gotten back-up when I needed it!"

"Nee-chan, you should learn to take responsibilities for your own actions."

"You shut up-"

"Both of you shut up!" Kisame yelled to the sisters he had hanging over his shoulders. He was really frustrated already, so he just wanted to go home. He didn't want to put up with the constant bickering. Nataru, as it seems the second girl is named, just wanted to forget the debacle that just occurred.

~Flashback Begins~

"The giant man broke my weapon," she said innocently. The second girl resisted the urge to choke her sister and sighed. She yanked back the chain she held in her hands and the head of the kusarigama came out of the dead man's back, flying behind the girl. With the flick of her wrist she sent the weapon soaring in another direction, towards the group of Akatsuki.

Deidara flinched stupidly and the others watched, but the weapon had a different target…

Thud!

The kusarigama skid forward, digging deep into the ground.

"What the hell!" Sasori screamed at the girl as he just barely jumped out of the way in time. "I thought you were going to kill Deidara first!"

"My sister and I have different preferences," the girl shrugged.

"This is ridiculous-" Sasori started, but he had to spring out of the way again, since the girl had attacked.

"What's the matter? Can't you fight?" Sasori let out an exasperated sigh and reached into his jacket. When he retrieved his hand, it was holding a scroll. He flipped it open and a big puff of smoke appeared. When the smog cleared, Sasori stood next to his favorite puppet, the Third Kazekage. The girl stood where she was, swinging her kusarigama in a circle at her side. In her eyes you could see the excitement was that welling up inside. _A puppet user… _she thought. _This should be fun._

Sasori pressed forward his minion, launching it a top speed towards the girl.

"Nataru nee-chan, watch out!" the first girl, Naoshime cried.

The second girl, Nataru, ignored her, and with a great swoop of her arm she swung forward the weapon. There was a loud crashing noise as the puppet and the kusarigama collided. As soon as contact was made, Nataru yanked her arm and the head was dragged downward. It sliced at the arm of the grotesque doll, which quickly countered. The girl withdrew the head and in its stead launched the chain to the puppet and entangled it. With a graceful movement of the arms, Sasori was not only able to shake off the chains, but to grab it and start to pull.

The fight raged on. After a while the battle still had not gotten anywhere, and Kisame was irritated. Sasori was hogging all of the fight! As far as Kisame was concerned, if _he _did not get to fight, then _no one_ did. He walked up behind the girl, who was so absorbed into her battle with Sasori she did not notice. Kisame simply picked up the girl, and draped her over his shoulder.

"Hey!" she started to protest. Sharky did the same to her sister and said,

"They're the ones we want. Let's go"


	5. The Hideout

**I'm in** **a such good mood today! Four day weekend, yes! Thought I'd just share that with you... Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Naruto **_**or any of its associations.**

* * *

"Ow!" Naoshime squeaked as she was dropped on the ground.

"Who're they?" Kakuzu asked.

"They're the ones Pein-sama wanted, un." Deidara replied. As soon as they had returned to the hideout, Kisame happily left the sisters in Deidara's care while he, Kisame, went to go take a nap. *

"Oh, he left," Kakuzu said.

"What!"

"Yeah, he'll be back in a week or so though."

"So… are we free to go?" Naoshime asked sweetly.

"Sure, un!"

"Deidara are you crazy!" Kakuzu yelled. "Oh wait…." (^)

"But look at her… she's so cute, un."

"Psh, yeah right," Nataru snorted.

"Hey! I look exactly like you!" Naoshime whined.

"Why is that really?" Deidara asked.

"Because unfortunately, I was born with a twin." Nataru said.

"Nee-chan, you're so mean!"

"If I had a twin, we'd do everything together, un! With Sasori-danna too, of course."

"For the love of GOD, Deidara don't have a twin," Sasori said. *(2)

"I'm so _hungry_, man." Naoshime added randomly. *(3)

"I don't know if we're allowed to feed the prisoners. Sorry, un."

"We're prisoners!"

"Um, yeah. Did you think we were just having a sleepover?" (^2)

"Kinda…."

"Naoshime, you're an idiot." Nataru muttered.

"You can say that again,(^3)" Sasori interjected.

"Hey!" Naoshime objected.

"Well ,you are kind of stupid," Deidara added.

"I know…."

~1 hour later~

"I'm booored!"

"Shut up, Naoshime."

"But Nee-chan, it's so boring in here!"

"You've only been in here for five minutes."

"Well it's not my fault you wanted to be in here with that Sasori guy. Alone." (^5)

"Shut up," Nataru grumbled.

"AAAAAAND, you left me with that girly looking Deidara! *(4) He's so boring! He completely ignored me _and _I think he was playing with Play-Doh (^4) the whole time!"

"Butsu butsu iwanai-de." *(5)

"Why do we have to be here anyway? This room is so plain. There's no _color_!"

"You do realize that you're babbling like an idiot, right?"

"That's what I do when I'm hungry. Ask your boyfriend if he can get us some food." *(6)

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Sure he isn't. Just see if he can get us food," Naoshime urged her sister.

"You do it."

"Fine I will." *(7) Naoshime stood up from where she and her twin were sitting on a bed and stretched lazily. She walked across the room and cracked open the door. She poked her head outside and looked down the hall both ways. She slipped out of the room and started to sprint down the hallway…

"Oof!" she squeaked as she fell into a sitting position on the ground. She looked up to see very sharp teeth growling down at her. "Uh…"

"Where do you think you're going?" Kisame barked.

"Well, uh…um," she started, but she floundered *(8) and just stayed silent.

"Well! I'm waiting!"

"I was hungry. So I asked Nataru to get her boyfriend to get me some food. She said no so I came out to get some myself. But then I bumped into you and now I'm scared and I want to go home."

"Well why didn't you say so!" Kisame thundered, and Naoshime nearly jumped out of her skin. "Come with me." Naoshime stood up and followed Sharky as he walked off. After a minute or so of wandering, they ended up in the hugest kitchen Naoshime had ever seen. *(9) "So what would you like to eat?"

"Um…spaghetti!" *(10)

"Uh…we don't have spaghetti, sorry." *(11)

"Oh okay…what do you have then?"

"Well…I could make you a sandwich."

"Pastrami and Swiss with Grey Poupon on a croissant!" *(12)

"Um…okay. Sure…"

Kisame began to make the girl's strange sandwich and Naoshime just stared.

"So, how do you breathe above water?"

"Huh?"

"Don't you have to breathe through your gills?"

"What? Oh, um… I have lungs too." *(13)

"Oooooh…"

When Kisame finished making the sandwich he placed it in front of the girl and asked her, "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Avian Sparkling Water please." *(14)

"Uh…fresh out. I'll get you a soda."

"Oh, okay…" Kisame came back with a can of soda for the girl and gave it to her. He wanted to see if she liked her sandwich before he left, but she would not tale a bite. Instead, she kept staring at Kisame.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, utterly confused.

"No," she replied.

"So… then why are you staring at me?"

"I was trying to figure out what shade of blue you are."

"Uh…" Kisame laughed nervously.

"I'm going to go with periwinkle."

"Really?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh… okay." *(15) Kisame wondered about the girl's mentality as she started to eat her sandwich.

Nataru glared at the man that had just waltzed into her room a few minutes ago. He walked in like he owned the place and that itself irritated her. As soon as he opened his mouth she decided that she would hate him for the rest of his life. Little did she know how long that would actually be….

"So you're the one who was causing all of that fucking trouble? A mere little girl?" Hidan scoffed. Nataru turned her head and refused to answer. This of course frustrated the man that stood across from her. He came in that miserable little box they called a room for the sole purpose of instigating something. He did not go in there to think of a clever remark and not have it responded to. In fact, he was not going to leave that room until he made that girl do _something_, dammit!

The seemingly emotionless girl stared quietly at Hidan, watching his expression change, she did not know that Hidan was only making faces because his thoughts were so vehement that his facial muscles just _had_ to react. Nataru just thought that he was crazy. Maybe he is….

***: A nap sounds nice...  
****(^)- King Cookie (my friend): Those girls are bad (just now realizing that they were the ones killing the men)"  
****Me: Yesh, I know they are...**

***(2): Too late! He and Inno are identicalz twins!  
*(3): Only because I'm hungry  
Naoshime: Yea I know  
(^2)- King Cookie: Was I invited?  
Me: No, of course not!  
(^3)- King Cookie: Artemis is an idiot.  
Me: Am not, now stop interrupting my story!  
(^5)- Out of order because I added it later. But anyway I just wanted to inform you that even **_**I **_**don't know what they were doing in there. They wouldn't let me in... T.T  
*(4): You guys need to leave him alone! He is plenty sexy looking like a girl. He's better looking than some guys who look like guys!  
Naoshime: Why are you so defensive?  
Me: Uh... well um...  
Deidara: 'Cause she loves me.  
Me: Well yeah, that's pretty much it.  
(^4)- King Cookie: What a kid, bakeable eraser clay is what I use.  
Me: Okay... Nice to know... Now don't interrupt my story again!  
*(5): This means roughly, "Quit your bitching."  
*(6): I'm having spaghetti for dinner!  
Naoshime: Shut up.  
*(7): Yes this argument was pointless but my chapters are getting shorter and I need fluff to fill the space.  
*(8): Ha! Fishy joke!  
Kisame: Not funny...  
Me: What happened to your sense of humor?  
Kisame: ...  
*(9): She's only seen two kitchens in her lifetime of seventeen years so I guess its not **_**that **_**big... Okay, yeah it is.  
*(10): Naoshime: Ha!  
Me: Oh you want to play that way? Watch this!  
*(11): Ha!  
Naoshime: You suck  
Me: I know ^^  
*(12): Do you even know what that is?  
Naoshime: I think so...  
*(13): Ha! He didn't deny that he needs his gills too!  
Kisame: Because you didn't make me.  
Me: ... Whatever.  
*(14): You don't even know what sparkling water is!  
Naoshime: So?  
Me: ...  
*(15): What's with this stupid conversation? Eat your dumb sandwich!**

**A/N: I'm sure you've noticed that now my friends are interrupting me and my characters won't stop being retarded. (That's my job) I'll get them all to stop, or at least tone it down. Anywayz, thank you for reading! I'm not sure about what pairings I should do, so please review and give me ideas! You never know... I just might end up going with what you want! Since I have an extra two days off I might update again on Monday... Arigatou!**


	6. Big Brother

**Hi there! Okay, I'm warning you now, you might want to save all of my stupid notes until the end so I don't ruin the mood of the chapter. Now onto Chapter 6!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto _or any of its associations. I also do not own the song lyrics in italics. Those belong to Kanon Wakeshima. I used the song _Kagami_ to open and close the chapter for psychological reasons.**

_

* * *

_

_Ringo no doku wa  
__Chiisana hagata ga ubai  
__Shoujo no uso wa  
__Bansan no seki de nemuru_

_Nanatsu no ai mo  
__Ouji no kisu mo  
__Saigo ni wa subete  
__Shiroi hada ni tokeru *_

When the door slammed open, Nataru nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been thoroughly enjoying the quiet Hidan had left in the room after he stalked off muttering something about being too worked up to keep provoking the girl.

"Neeeeee-chan! I'm feeling so much better now that I've been fed. We should play a game! And we should get Nii-san *(2) to play too," Naoshime squealed as she twirled into the room. Nataru cringed as soon as her sister opened her mouth. She was doing her best to ignore her hyperactive twin, but when she heard the word "nii-san", her head shot up. _Brother? We have no brother. _she thought herself. This was not entirely true. They HAD a brother, but he died quite some time ago. But he didn't just die…he was _**murdered**_.

~Flashbacks Begins~

_Nataru's POV_

It was so bright that morning no one would have expected the horrible things that happened later on. Onii-san had just returned from a long mission the night before and Naoshime, who was asleep when he arrived, had decided to spend every waking moment with him. Unfortunately, Onii-san had other things to take care of first.

"But Onii-san! I haven't seen you in forever!" Naoshime whined.

"I know, I was gone too long this time. But I need to go out and buy some supplies we need to survive."

"I wanna go too!"

"Listen, when I get back, we'll play all the games you want. How does that sound?" Bribery. Our little family of three thrived on it.

"And you have to make Nikujaga *(3) for dinner tonight." Deal-making. We used that a lot too.

"Deal."

"You promise?"

"Promise."

"Pinky-promise," she said as she held out her finger. He extended his and they shook on it, so to speak.

"Cross my heart and hope to die." *(4)

* * *

Shortly after he left Naoshime turned all of her annoying attention on me.

"Nee-chan," she squeaked. "Let's play Shiritori! I'll go first! First ends with 'T', tempura!" I, being very mature for a girl of only eight years *(5), had no time for her silly little games. She would always use food anyway, and that would make me hungry.

"Go away," I grumbled.

"But Nee-chan!"

"I'm too busy to play your games."

"Too busy brooding," she muttered.

"What did you just say!" *(6)

"Nothing!" Then she tried to run away before I started to beat her to a pulp.

* * *

It started to rain as the sun began to set. Lugubrious clouds settled near the ground as fog. The sky turned grey and the pouring rain seemed black against the humid blanket it created. Naoshime was staring out the window. She looked quite depressed actually, but that was not like her at all. When it rained she always looked that way, but it was still so unlike her. She looked as if she was mourning the dead. Nabushi nii-san had yet to return. I can still hear the sound the rain made as it hit our dilapidated shack.

_Pitter-patter_

_Pitter-patter_

_Pitter-patter_

Even when it rains now, and I hear the familiar sounds, I cannot help but to well up with anger and grief at thought of what happened that night.

* * *

When we heard the footsteps outside we both jumped. I turned and looked at Naoshime who was wearing the most perplexing look on her face. I could tell that she was seriously contemplating whether she should open the door or not, but since we did not recognize the sounds *(7), she was afraid to. We sat there in silence, listening as the dull treading got closer.

_Thud _

_Thud _

_Thud_

The quick, loud knock on the door made us flinch violently, and I had to put my hands over Naoshime's mouth to keep her from screaming. There was one more knock before the door came crashing down. In the doorway stood two burly men. They were both very muscular but one man was particularly tall and the other looked quite short next to him. They both had black beady eyes that were darting around the inside of our "house." The shorter man had noticed us first. He stared for a few seconds, which felt like an eternity, before he barked, "Do you know where the Kira guy is?"

No "Who are you?" or "What are you doing here?" He just asked us if we knew where our brother was. But what I didn't understand was, why was he looking for Onii-san?

We shook our heads as an answer to his question but as soon as we did the taller one, who was silently glaring at us until now, had yelled, "Don't you dare lie to us! You're his sisters ain't you? You should know where he is! Now tell us!"

They knew exactly who we were. That meant that they had done some research on their target, on my brother. They were not just doing this on some whim. They had to have had a reason for coming after Onii-san. But what was it? What could Onii-san have done that would cause these men to come after him?

Just then Naoshime froze. She had been shaking slightly before, and that was understandable since she was weak. She always was, she always will be. I was surprised when she ceased her idiotic trembling but, in a few seconds, I was able to comprehend her radical behavior. I could hear the familiar mellow footsteps approaching the house. Onii-san was home. *(8)

* * *

The scene that followed happened so quickly I barely knew what was going on by the time it ended. When Onii-san reached the door the two men turned around and the taller one said gruffly, "Oh there you are."

"We've been expecting you," the shorter one said as if he had been there all day.

"Oh really," Onii-san said plainly.

The shorter man moved so swiftly I almost did not register it. When Onii-san fell to the floor, there was blood everywhere. The two men grabbed him and left. All my sister and I were left with was a puddle of blood. Blood. How do we bury blood? How do we mourn blood? How do we pay our respects to blood? We don't.

~Flashback Ends~

Nataru stood up so suddenly that Naoshime flinched, thinking that Nataru would hit her. Instead, Nataru spoke in a low gravelly voice. "We have no brother," she repeated aloud. "And don't you _dare _say something like that again!" Nataru stormed out of the room, leaving Naoshime standing alone in bewildered silence.

_Kagami, kagami  
__Watashi no kare ta kokoro o utsusu  
__Kagami yo kagami, kudake te hibiku nakigoe ha dare? *(9)_

* * *

***: English Translation-  
****_The poisoned apple  
That has a small bite  
The young girl's lies  
Sleep in the seat of the diner_**

**_Also Seven loves  
And the kiss of a prince  
At the end everything  
Is revealed on that white skin_  
*(2): Nii-san? Nii-san? You have no brother you retard!  
Naoshime: Yes I do.  
Me: You do?  
Naoshime: Duh.  
Me: Oh.  
*(3): Nikujaga is a beef and potato stew flavored with sweet soy.  
Naoshime: Mmmm... sounds yummy!  
Me: Oh, shut up.  
*(4): No Nabushi! Don't say such things! Oh, wait, you didn't know his name yet... But you do now! Yesh their brother's name is Nabushi Kira and he is very smexy. At least I think so. You might see him as a nerd or something. I'll describe him later on...  
*(5): The girls were eight in the flashback, and they are now seventeen.  
*(6): Nataru is VERY sensitive of her feelings.  
*(7): The Kira clan specializes in jutsu dealing with with sound and therefore are trained at a very young age to be able to recoginze and differeciate between the various pitches and frequencies sound waves can create. Here Nataru is saying that she and her sister cannot recognize the owners of the footsteps outside because they know no one whose footsteps sound that way.  
*(8): No! Nabushi, my love! Don't do it! Turn around! Leave them there! Call for help dammit just don't go into the house!  
*(9): English Translation-  
_Mirror, mirror  
Reflect my withering heart  
Mirror, oh mirror, who's crying voice can break you?_**


	7. A Battle Between the ColdHearted Pt 2

**Oh look, I'm back! I made some corrections in Chapters 1-6 so if you would like, they are there for you to read again. Anyway, you're probably furious with me for making you wait so long...so onto the story!  
Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations**

* * *

Nataru fumed as she stormed down the hallway. _How _**dare **_she? She knows that we're only alive because of what our brother, our _**real**_ brother, did for us! How could she even _**think **_to give someone else that title? No, that must be it, she _**didn't **_think. She never does. _

Nataru's thoughts were interrupted as she went crashing to the floor. She looked up and glared at the man who had gotten in her way.

"You again. What do you want?" she snarled.

"You shouldn't be demanding things from the position you're in," Sasori scoffed.* Nataru turned up her nose.

"Aren't you going to help me up?" she asked with a hint of indignity in her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Sasori offered her his hand, and after she stared at it with uncertainty for a second, Nataru took it. Sasori pulled her to her feet. "You're welcome," he said, and turned around to leave before she could respond. He had hardly taken five steps when the emerald-eyed girl behind him called out.

"Wait." Sasori spun to face her.

"What?" Nataru reddened a bit. She did not think that he would actually turn around. She cleared her throat light before she spoke again.

"I was wondering if we could finish what we were doing before." *(2) Sasori had to think a minute. He had not the slightest clue as to what she was t-oh yeah. Completely forgot about that. He was remembering now. They had not finished their battle because of a Sharky interruption, so when they returned to the hideout, Sasori had already devised away to settle it. After had found a suitable room for the girls, he grabbed an unsuspecting Nataru by the arm-Nataru glared angrily at his hand, hoping it would spontaneously combust-and lead her to it. As he pulled her inside, Nataru was mumbling something under her breath. Sasori, ignoring her comments, closed and locked the door behind them. Her eyes opened wide, so before she started to think that she was locked in a room with a rapist, he explained to her his plan. To see who would have been the victor in their battle, they would play to best of two of three rounds of Tekken Tag Tournament on the PlayStation 2 Sasori had set up.*(3) The rounds were extremely drawn out and after an hour they both had one win each. That last battle had just begun and the air was thick with tension and anxiety.

_Knock!_

_Knock!_

_Knock!_

The two were rudely snapped back to reality as Naoshime demanded to be let in. Sasori thought it was best to leave them to their own devices then. Ah, the battle still remained unfinished. Yes, he remembered now. Sasori could not stop the evil grin that took over his face as he said,

"First on to your room gets a head start!"

"I'm not running."

"Yeah, neither am I. I just wanted to see if you would." They walked to Nataru's room in silence and when they opened the door, Nataru was relieved to see that Naoshime was gone. She could not face her twin so soon. Luckily, the game was still paused, waiting for them to return. They took their stances in front of the controllers they had place on the floor. Nataru bounced on her heels as she cracked her knuckles and shook out her hands. Sasori reached up and grabbed his head, cracking his neck both ways.

~1 Hour Later~

"Ha! In your face!" Nataru squealed happily as she jumped around in circles. Sasori stared at her blankly. Nataru noticed his empty gaze and immediately became still. She cleared her throat and said, "So um, yeah."

"Yeah"

"Okay then."

"I want a rematch."

"What? Why?"

"I can't lose to a _girl_." *(4)

"Well you just _did_."

"So I want a rematch."

"No way!"

"Are you scared?"

"Sc—_Me? Scared? Ha!"_

"Then why don't you want a rematch?"

"Because I won!"

"So do it again."

"I will!"

"Best two out of three."

"Fine!" When Sasori picked up his controller and began character, Nataru realized what happened. "Dammit."

~21 battles later~

"Stop cheating!"

"I'm not cheating."

"Then stop feeling on me you pervert!" Sasori was "gently" pushing Nataru away from the screen, "oblivious" to the fact that it was impairing her vision of what she was doing. They had decided it would be their last round. With them having eleven wins each (if you count not only the past twenty-one, but the one before it), it would be the tie breaker. The winner of this round would be the undisputed victor.

"Ha! In _your _face!" Sasori shouted while Nataru gaped at the screen that read "PLAYER 2 WINS" *(5) in disbelief. She had lost. She _never_ loses. She may lose a battle but she would _never_ lose the war. _**Never**_. After Sasori completed his victory dance, he plopped down next to Nataru, put his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her closer. With a ridiculous grin plastered to his face he said, "Don't be upset, love. If it makes you feel better, you were doomed to lose to me from the start." Nataru folded her arms and turned up her nose before she replied haughtily,

"I wouldn't have lost if I wasn't going up against a cheater."

"All is far in…battle, something or another." *(6)

"What?"

"I was trying to remember that line everyone uses to get out of being called a cheater."

"So you admit that you cheated!"

"No, I just want you to stop calling me a cheater."

"Ugh, you disgust me. Get your hands off," she complained, just now deciding to say something about him hugging her. *(7)

"Fine, there's no use trying to tell a girl that she's wrong. You're all so stubborn." But Sasori made no attempt to let her go.

"Yeah, yeah. Just get off of me."

"No."

"And why not?"

Sasori grinned again. "Because you're just so darned comfortable." Nataru pushed him away and stood up to leave. "Ah, you're no fun," Sasori sighed. Nataru scoffed and turned up her nose.

"Fun is for children, and I'm no child."

"Oh you aren't?"

"Of course not! I'm a full-grown woman."

"You are? You don't look like it."

"What are you talking about?"

"You look like you could be a bit fuller to me." *(8)

"What! You…y-you…" Nataru spun around so she did not have to face him. She could not find the words to describe her contempt for him. _He's so…so…disgusting! Just a dirty old…perverted…mentally challenged…cheater! __**And**__! That comment! Fuller, ha! Whatever old man, like you could—wait a minute. Oh my God, no. That can't be it! Why in the world—that's so not right! _Nataru had just realized that Sasori's previous comment could have only meant one thing. Sasori had obviously been staring at her for quite some time. While just the thought of this would have been enough to creep any girl out *(9), it was actually another thought, that had been triggered by the first, that scared her. The only time he could have possibly had to stare her down would have been during the battles in which he had completely sucked. Did that mean her wins had only been flukes? No, it could not be. There was no way that he could be better than her. None at all. Nataru turned to face Sasori. She could not mask the disgust on her face. He was and imbecile, a cretin, a…a…_pedophile_. Yes! She, of course, was not a child but she was sure that he liked them.

"You okay?" Sasori asked. Nataru had been standing their, staring at him for quite some time now. She did not look to happy, and quite frankly, it was scaring him.

"No, I am _not_ okay. I am beyond not okay."

"You don't talk like a woman either."

"You, shut up!"

"That wasn't a very grown-up comment at all."

"Go to Hell."

"Can I take you with me?"

"No you c—what?"

Sasori appeared to be thinking very deeply, and as he spoke, his words came out slowly. "If I go to Hell, can I take you with me?"

"N-no!" Nataru nearly gagged.

"What if I go out to dinner?" His words quickened a little. "Can I take you with me then?"

"Wait, are you asking me out?" *(10)

"No, I'm asking you to jump off of a cliff."

"Well, you won't get a date with that tone."

"So, if I drop the sarcasm, you'll go out with me?"

"I never said that!"

"But you implied it."

"Did not!"

"So you won't go out with me?"

"Yes."

"You will?"

"No!"

"So you won't."

"Of course not!"

"So you won't not not not go out with me?"

"Uh…yes?"

"Great! I'll come get you at seven." And with that, Sasori left. It took Nataru a second to realize what happened. After she counted up the number of "not's" Sasori used again, she nearly died.

Smack!

When her palm made contact with her face, Nataru started swearing under her breath. She could not believe that he had even bested her in a war with words! She did not even think the dolt was able to read. Nataru glanced up at the analog clock on the wall. Three o' one. She had exactly three hours and fifty-nine minutes to kill herself.

"Better get started."

* * *

***: OMG Now maybe we can figure out what they were doing alone in that room! ;D  
*(2): And just WHAT is that Nataru?  
Nataru: Nunya  
Me: Oh okay n-hey, wait a minute! I'M the writer of the story! It is ALL my business.  
Nataru: It's an invasion of our privacy.  
Me: You HAVE no privacy!  
*(3): That's it? That's all you were doing?  
Nataru: Yeah  
Sasori: What did you think we were doing?  
Me: At least pick a newer game. That one is like what, four years old?  
Sasori: Maybe  
*(4): I'm sorry Sasori, but didn't Chiyo like, kill you?  
Sasori: She's a hag, hags don't count as girls  
Me: Sure they don't.  
Sasori: They don't.  
Me: Whatever.  
Sasori: It's true.  
Me: You're not getting the last word.  
Sasori: Sure I won't.  
Me: I'll give you a new dolly...  
Sasori: Yay!  
Me: Thought so.  
*(5): How she got Sasori to let her be first player, I'll never know.  
*(6): All is fair in love and war, Sasori.  
Sasori: Oh, I knew that.  
Me: Sure you did.****  
*(7): Oh you ingrate. Do you know how many girls would LOVE to be hugged by Sasori, me included?  
Nataru: One, including you.  
Me: Whatever. that's the last time I do something for you. Do you know how hard it was to get him to do that?  
Nataru: All you had to do was write it.  
Me: It's more complicated than that you know!  
Sasori: Now, now Artemis, don't get so worked up.  
Me: *crying* She doesn't appreciate anything I do.  
Sasori: Oh crap, uh don't cry. Hey, how about a hug?  
Me: *sniffle* R-really?  
Sasori: Yeah, here. *hugs Artemis*  
Me: Yay! *sticks out tongue at Nataru*  
Nataru: *rolls eyes*  
King Cookie: Hug me too :)  
Me: Back off!****  
*(8): OMG Sasori, I didn't know you were such a pervert.  
Sasori: Yeah, it's one of many things you didn't get to know about me since I died so early.  
Me: Yep. You shouldn't have gotten killed by your grandmother.  
Sasori: Shut up.  
Me: Aw, Sasori-kun, don't be so sour.  
Sasori: You shouldn't have brought it up.  
Me: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you.  
Sasori: I feel emo now...  
Me: Oh Sasori, please forgive me! *hugs Sasori*  
*(9): Except me. Okay, maybe I'd be creeped out a little bit...  
*(10): No dip, Sherlock**

**A/N: Sorry that that took forever but my mom hijacked my laptop while I was in the middle of typing this one up. I still don't have it back, but now that she works on Saturdays I can sneak on with success! I'll just have to type up the chapters at school so that things run smoothly. Of, course this means I can't eat lunch, but I love you so much, it doesn't even matter. I've written up to Chapter 11 so the others should come out more quickly now. But in the mean time, peace! Love! Joy! Review! Arigatou!  
**


	8. Rancid Whipped Cream

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations.**

* * *

Naoshime nudged the refrigerator door closed with her foot, turning to a counter with her arms full of food. She set her bundle down and took a step backwards, staring at the pile. After Kisame showed her the way to the kitchen, she memorized he path, engraved it in her brain. Now, after retracing her steps, she was there again, trying to concoct something edible. As she thought she chewed on the strawberry protruding from her mouth with her arms folded and her head cocked to the side. Just as she started to get an idea of what she might want to eat, a shadowy figure walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, Play-Doh." Naoshime giggled when she saw Deidara's face.

"I wish you would stop calling me that. I don't even know what Play-Doh is, un."

"It's that stuff you play with all of the time."

"I don't play. I craft. I sculpt. I make _art_."

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Naoshime snorted.

"Don't snort at me."

She snorted again. "But anyway, that's your name. Deal with it."

Deidara sighed. "You'll be gone soon enough, un."

"What do you mean?"

"When my leader gets back, he'll dispose of you immediately."

"What'll he do?"

"He might kill you. Or he might torture you and kill you."

"Oh my gosh, that's horrible! You can't just kill someone you know nothing about!"

"And what is it that you do, un?"

"No, that's not me! Well, not anymore…especially since my weapon is broken."

"Oh, you mean that beat up boomerang that Itachi dug up?"

"He dug it up?" Naoshime asked incredulously.

"Yeah," Deidara shrugged. "What's wrong with that, un?"

* "Nothing really. Where did he put it?"

"It's probably in his room. He hoards stuff like that. Why?"

"Because if I can get it, I can fix it, and then I can use it to break out of here!"

Deidara nodded vaguely and said, "That sounds really interesting, but it doesn't matter. You're going to die anyway, un."

"We'll see about that," Naoshime mumbled.

"What was that, un?"

"Nothing."

Deidara looked around, noticing that all of the contents of the refrigerator were sitting on the island in front of the raven-haired girl. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

"I'm trying to find something to eat." *(2)

"Well, I'm sure you've found something, un."

"Actually I didn't. I've looked everywhere, but I can't find anything that interests me."

"Oh really?" Deidara said without much enthusiasm.

"Yes! It's so irritating! Earlier Kisame nii-san made me something, but even that kind of bored me. I ate it anyway though. But now I can't find anything that I would even want to put in my mouth."

"What about that strawberry you had?"

"Oh yeah, that….What did I do with that anyway?"

"Does it matter? Just eat strawberries and be happy."

"Hmm…well, I guess so."

"Now get out of my kitchen."

"_Your_ kitchen?" Naoshime scoffed. "Please! As if anyone could own a kitchen!" She put the strawberries to the side while she stuffed everything else back in the refrigerator. As she began to munch on the heart-shaped fruit, Deidara could not help but to snicker *(3) at her childish simplicity.

"What's so funny?"

"Huh? Oh nothing, nothing."

"Uh-huh…. So what are _you_ doing in here?"

"What?"

"I told you why _I'm_ here, so why are _you_ in here?"

"It's a kitchen, why do you think I'm in here?"

"Are you getting something to eat?"

"Nope! I was getting some whipped cream."

"And you're not going to eat it?" Naoshime asked incredulously.

"No I'm going to—um…can you keep a secret?"

"Of course I can! I've kept all kinds of secrets."

"Like what, un?"

"Well one time—wait a minute. If I tell you, I wouldn't be keeping the secret."

"True, true. Alright, I'll tell you, un." Deidara looked slowly around the room, making sure that no one was concealed in the shadows, listening intently for the following words: "I'm going to prank Itachi." *(4)

"Omigosh! But why?" *(5)

"It's a long story, but know that he deserves it, un."

"Oh. Well then, is there anything I can do to help?"

"Why yes, actually, there is. Could you get out the whipped cream and put it over some fish?"

"Um…I guess so."

"Great! I'm going to go to the spice cabinet." And he did. Naoshime, completely repulsed by the idea of wasting good whipped cream on fish, began to once again dig through the refrigerator, looking for the "ingredients." She pulled out what would probably be gallons of whipped cream, but she had some trouble locating the fish.

She moved a box of something that resembled a sixth grade science project, and immediately found the fish. She smelled it before she saw it. The stench was terrifying. It was so foul it would make onions cry. Naoshime crinkled her nose and soon repressed a gag. But as soon as her hand felt the slimy bundle, the dry heaves began. She hurriedly whipped the fish out and tossed them on the counter and started to run to the kitchen sink. As she washed her hands thoroughly, nearly scratching the skin off of her hands, Deidara came back with a few bottles in his hands.

"Are you o-what is that repulsive aroma?"

"Your fish!" Naoshime spat.

"That is one God-awful smell. It's perfect!"

~1 hour later~

Deidara and Naoshime, having a very lively conversation were walking back into the kitchen. The sickening mixture of fish, eggs(for texture), garlic, vinegar, and whipped cream they had concocted earlier would have had plenty of time to marinate by now.

"So now we're going to-"

"Yep."

"But what if-"

"Don't worry, this plan is fool proof!" Deidara shouted as he cackled mentally.

Naoshime cleared her throat lightly and looked down at her feet.

"Oh yeah, I promised. Okay, no more psycho laughing. Now let's start scooping out the whipped cream…."

~15 minutes later~

Itachi was on the way to his room when he was stopped by two dimwits trying, and failing, to feed him some pie with a rancid whipped topping. It was annoying, but in an amusing kind of way. Between the two of them they barely had half a brain, and yet they were trying to outsmart him. _Ha! As if! Like they could do such a thing._ Itachi managed to bypass the bumbling buffoons and was chuckling to himself at their naivety. Until it fell. "It" was a huge bucket full with the same whipped stuff they tried to feed him, along with some extra…"ingredients." The bucket toppled over, landing upside down on Itachi's head. All of its slimy contents were dumped on his head, and sliding down his face. Itachi fumed in silence, until…

A loud burst of laugher could be heard just a few feet away. Itachi spun to see none other than the bumbling buffoons, collapsed together in uncontrollable laughter.

"So much for your superior Sharingan, un!"

That laughter continued even after Itachi slammed his door shut.

* * *

***: Here I was actually going to explain the entire point of her burying it, but I couldn't get it to sound...good enough to fit in there. So I changed the entire thing.****  
*(2): Didn't you just eat?  
Naoshime: It was a few hours ago...  
*(3): At this moment I was actually eating a Snickers. Just thought I'd let you know.  
*(4): Wow...very dramatic  
*(5): Do you really need to know?  
Naoshime: Um...yeah?**

**A/N: See? Wasn't that quite fast? I told you so. So anyway please, PLEASE review and Chapter 9 will be out soon! Arigatou!  
**


	9. Mouse?

**Okay, I finally got this Chapter out, despite all that has happened to prevent it. Thank goodness. I hired a friend to type this up so things might be weird. Sorry in advance for the inconvenience. If you're lucky, I'll remember to put up Chapter 10 tomorrow. So yeah, please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations. **

* * *

"You didn't expect me to dress up, did you?"

Sasori scratched his head. "Well I guess. I mean, it is a dat—"

"Don't. Even. Say it," Nataru interrupted. "It is not. This is just an act of kindness on my part. To think that I decided to be nice enough to indulge your idiotic wishes. Only Naoshime is usually that weak. In fact, I think I'll just go to sleep or something. You know what, I will. Goodb—"

"Haha! Nice try," Sasori chuckled as he grabbed her arm, ensuring she could not get away. "Let's go."

"Where in the world can we go? I'm a prisoner, remember?"

"I would think you wouldn't want me to remember that. But to answer your question," he continued as Nataru rolled her eyes, "We're going to the dining room and we'll just pretend we don't know any of the people there. Nataru shook her head as Sasori explained his plan. _Am I really going through with this? _She thought to herself. That thought stayed with her as she was lead away by Sasori to the dining room next to the kitchen.

* * *

"Hidan's cooking tonight so it's obviously meatloaf."

"Ew, that's disgusting!"

"Yeah, that's some frightening stuff. Oh, idea! Let's offer to be his 'helpers,'" he air-quoted 'helpers,' "And improve his dish so that it's awesome-loaf."

"Oh, cool! Okay let's go."

~15 minutes later~

After Deidara and Naoshime were employed and Sasori and Nataru took their seats in the corner of the dining room the tragedy began. Everyone in the dining room flinched when the sound of a loud explosion shook the tables and chandelier.

* * *

"What was that?" Nataru asked.

"Hidan's cooking today. It's probably the meat loaf saying it's done, "Sasori replied waving the thought away.

He had no idea how wrong he was.

A few minutes later, Kisame walked in, splattered in soot from head to toe. He sat down at his usual table by the aquarium after enduring the laughter and jeers. It wasn't until after Zetsu made some crude fried fish jokes did someone start to think that something was horribly wrong. Because that was when the high-pitched, bone-chilling shriek was heard.

"Okay, now what was that?" Nataru asked with her smart-alecky tone.

"Obviously a scream," Sasori replied with an equally smart-alecky tone.

Just then Itachi ran in, shrieking the same shriek that was heard just moments ago. He stopped in the middle of the room and flapped his hands dramatically before he sighed, "There's a mouse in the hideout!" Then he fainted.

"Hmph, thought I killed it." Kisame grunted.

"So that was you blowing stuff up?" Zetsu questioned.

"Sure as heck was."

Sasori shook his head in disbelief.

* * *

"No, no, no, no, no! That's NOT what I told you to do! You know what, get the fuck out of my kitchen! Out, I want you out!" Hidan nearly popped a vein.

"Technically, it's not your kitchen," Naoshime whispered.

"What was that!"

"Shh!" Deidara turned to Hidan. "It was just a mistake, un. Really, we're here to help you out! The crowd is gathering ad they'll start rioting soon if they're not fed, un."

"So we don't have enough time to start over?" Hidan asked, trying not to explode.

"Nope, sorry to say we don't. But they have to eat so we'll have to give them what we've got, un." As Hidan stomped away fuming, Deidara turned to Naoshime with a ridiculously happy look on his face.

"You did it! You saved us all! This will be the best meatloaf ever, un."

"Ah well, I couldn't have done it if you hadn't covered for me," Naoshime shrugged. It was true. Every time Naoshime changed the ingredients oh-so slightly, Hidan would try to kick her out of "his" kitchen. Every time Deidara would feed him the same lies of being short on time. And every time Hidan would stomp away angry, giving Naoshime another chance to mix something new into the concoction. "But yes, I guess I did save everyone. I, Naoshime the Kind, the Brave, the Courageous, the He-"And she then screamed.

"Whoa, what happened? You okay, un? Hey, what are you doing? Get down from there!" Deidara tried to calm down the frantic Naoshime who had jumped onto the island. She shaking and stuttering, barely able to speak the following word,

"Mouse."

"Ah, a little mouse? That's what you're scared of?"

"Yes! What else would it be?" Naoshime asked incredulously.

"Well, a blood-spattering murderer like you shouldn't be scared of anything. At least that's what I thought, un."

"Oh, shut up," Naoshime grumbled.

* * *

Little old Mo-chi (the mouse) was scared to death. First, someone had tried to blow her to bits, then someone had tried to blow out her ear drum, all while trying to stomp her to death, and just how, she nearly when completely deaf while another foot almost squashed her (even though this one seemed accidental). Now poor Mo-chi*60 was cowering in the corner of the pantry, wondering what in the world did she do wrong. _Why is this happening to me?_ She thought to herself sadly.

* * *

"He'll be f-" Sasori stopped. He came back to the table after Nataru had insisted he go and check on Itachi, to find his "date" missing. Sasori swore under his breath.

Nataru hurried into the kitchen as soon as she heard the-What was it? Third? - scream. Of course she had to get rid of the red-head, but that was easily achieved. All it took was a little fake concern for that drama queen. Now she had to go make sure her sister did not get herself killed. Nataru rushed into the kitchen, and noticed the scene that portrayed utter and complete chaos.******** Seeing her sister screaming in distress from the island countertop, Nataru thought it would be best to focus her hearing and find the cause of the problem. Closing her eyes, Nataru took deep, steadying breaths, trying hard to concentrate above her twin's whimpering and the not-really-calming-and-only-further-irritating coos of the blue-eyed man beside her. She could hear only her sister at the moment. _No further away…. _Sasori muttering about how stupid he was. _Nope, not that far..._ Hidan brooding in a corner. _Closer…._

The scritch-scratching of a mouse cowering in the pantry. _That's it! _Nataru hurried to the pantry and went in to retrieve the furry creature. She scooped the creature into her hands and carried it outside. Immediately after she lowered her hands to the ground, and the she-mouse scurried away into the setting sun. Nataru returned to the kitchen and her fretting sister asked, "Is it gone?"

"Yes. It's gone." Naoshime nearly squealed with delight. Nataru sighed, exasperated.

"So you returned…" Sasori teased as Nataru sat down in her seat.

"Let's just get this over with…."

* * *

*** Right about now, you're probably wondering how Nataru knew exactly who and where the scream came from, well you remember back in Chapter 6 when I explained why they were able to not recognize the footsteps and the workings of their clan, you would know.**

****** This is where I had to start writing/typing from the top of my head thanks to a certain editor that lost my papers…..**

**A/N: So that's the shortened version of Chapter 9. I really wish you guys got to read the whole thing but, that's life. So anyway, please review!  
**


	10. Growing Fascination

**Disclaimer: I do not or _Naruto_, or any of its associations.**

* * *

It was a brand new day and the sun was shining vibrantly outside of the Akatsuki hideout…

_It was cold and windy. Dark, looming clouds hung over the grey sky. With her raven hair flowing in the wind, Naoshime looked over the gloomy landscape. She shook her head and sighed. She stood there, thinking to herself, _I can't believe I did this…

Score! This is so cool! Nee-chan will definitely be proud of me now!

_All of a sudden, the sky began to grow lighter. The sun came out and the clouds disappeared. Naoshime turned to see a shimmering golden god holding out a well sculpted hand. To her own surprise, Naoshime took it. After that they…_

Naoshime tossed in bed and covered her face with a pillow shouting, "Kore wa oo sugi te koko de wa akarui yo!"*

* * *

Deidara stood in front of the full-length mirror he had brought into his room. It just seemed as though nothing he did could make him look good. He pulled his coat this way and that, trying to make sure he looked more muscular than bulky. He brushed his hair multiple times so that is seemed to be soft and shiny.

Deidara sighed and blew a few stray strands away from his face. Nothing he did was right. Everything he did only succeeded in making him uglier.*2 Now she would never love him, and he will grow old being lonely and without a person to love and have love him in return. Oh wait, he might have cats. Old, Lonely, unloved people always have tons of cats. His cats will love him, or he thinks they will. _Will they run away from this hideous face?_

* * *

_Though it was only midday, the sky was dark as though it were midnight, if not for the occasional flashes of the powerful jagged lightning, there would be no light in the sinister black sky. The waves slapping against the boat were a lugubrious grey. Back and forth it rocked, much too close to capsizing. With the boat plummeting over the crest of the monstrous wave, down towards the ever-darkening __trough, it was hard to hold on. Nataru plunged over-board. _

_Struggle as she might, Nataru could not stay above water; drowning. She was drowning. Her one and only fear. And that fear would be the death of her. It was choking her,__ suffocating her more than the water was. But then, a hand reached out to her. That glorious hand was her savior, and she reached wildly for it. Amazingly enough, she grabbed it. It pulled her to safety. She was suddenly on dry land. And in Sasori's arms. To her own surprise, she did not move. She stayed there and began to cry…_

Nataru sat straight up in her bed, with the same choking feeling coming over her. She could not breathe, her fingers were numb, her heart was pounding, and her mind was racing. _I just met this guy a few days ago *__3__. And yet, it seems as though I've known him all my life. How can I feel this way? __**Why **__am I feeling this way?_*4

* * *

Sasori shielded his eyes and tried to blink away the violent rays of sunlight. After his eyes adjusted, he surveyed his room and his eyes finally settled on the empty spot in the bed next to himself, not believing that she had actually left him while he was asleep. He thought they had really connected the night before. After dinner, when they had made themselves comfortable in his room, they had talked. And not just the back-and-forth-childishly-spiteful-game-of-poking-fun-at-one-another comments they were well experienced with either. The two of them had an actual civilized conversation. He learned quite a lot about her that night. He learned that her favorite food was smoked salmon *5 with lemon, that her birthday was June ninth, making her a Gemini *6, that she absolutely hates swimming, that she had to mature quite quickly because of the premature death of her older brother and caretaker….

_But none of that matters, _he thought to himself as he rolled over in bed. _She's a prisoner anyway. She signed her own death warrant the moment she decided to mess with Pein's spies. And besides, I'm a guy. I shouldn't be the being so obsessive. She should; she's the woman. And since she has shown no signs of being interested, I should just cut my losses and move on._

Sasori tossed once more in bed and his gaze settled once again on the empty space next to him. He stared blankly for the next few moments, and then he sighed.

_But if all of that is true…then why can't I stop thinking about her?_

* * *

"What's wrong?"

Deidara quickly snapped out of his daze when he heard the sound of Naoshime's light, sweet-as-honey voice hit his ears. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine, un."

"Are you sure? You seem kind of…spacey today." The look upon her beautiful porcelain face was one of worry.

"No, really. I'm fine. I didn't mean to seem distant. It's just that…"

"What? What is it?"

"Um, nothing, un. Just forget about it. So what were you saying?"

"I was saying that…."

And that was when Deidara started to stare again. He could not help it. The way she moved her hands animatedly when she talked, and the way she occasionally flipped her hair behind her shoulder. Deidara just found her so beautiful, but he still could not believe that she would bother to even breathe the same air that someone as homely as he was.

"Hello…are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…"

* * *

Nataru trekked along the pathway, so glad to be outside, with only the tranquil sounds of nature to disturb the silence. The soft chirping of sparrows, the mellifluous padding of the timid rabbits, the calming thud of Sasori's feet against the ground as he followed her. It was all so relaxing. She just wished Sasori would stop hiding. She knew he was there, and she was sure he knew that she knew that he was there. He was only hiding because he wanted the satisfaction of having her tell him that she wanted him to come out. Which she did not really want to do. But she saw through his foolish little plan. Now she just had to find away to get him to stop. She could just turn around and tell him to come out, but that would be walking straight into his trap. Then he would think that she wanted him to come out and talk to her.

_Which I don't. I could care less if he talked to me. I'm just tired of him stalking me is all._

And her thought pattern went on this way, trying to convince herself that she did not care. But the harder she tried to convince herself, the more she realized she actually did care. Then the choking feeling came over her again. She stopped walking and touched her hand to her throat.

_Why can't I breathe? I only feel this way when I'm scared of something. But what am I afraid of?_

* * *

Sasori peeked out from the bush in which he was hiding. Nataru had stopped moving. Had she finally figured out he was there? He thought that she already known. Maybe he overestimated her abilities.

_Or maybe she's waiting for me to come out. There's no way she didn't know I was here. I wasn't really trying to hide. Maybe I should…. _

Sasori came out from behind the bush and slowly walked up to Nataru. He thought for a moment or two, contemplating if he should speak first or not. He did not have to think much longer though. She turned around to face him. Just as she spun around, her eyes met his. Nataru stared deeply into his pools of brown, searching for the emotion she could feel emanating from them. She could not quite pin down what it was, but she knew she was familiar with it. In fact, she was sure she felt it herself just moments ago. But what in the world was it? It was not the fear but she had the feeling that it was the thing she was afraid of. But she was not quite sure what she was afraid of herself. If only she could remember, then it would hit her... _Sasori he…._ And she started to suffocate again. All at once, she began to make sense of all the confusing pieces of the puzzle. It all fit together perfectly. Sasori had fallen in love with her and she felt exactly the same towards him. The thought of it terrified her.

So she fainted. *7

* * *

***: Means "It's too bright in here!"**

*******2****: Aw, Deidara. Nothing could make you ugly!**

*******3****: That's how long it takes to get from the middle of nowhere in the Land of Lightning to the Akatsuki hideout (I'm guessing). **

*******4****: OMGZ… I squealed while writing this. Just thought you should know. **

*******5****: It's not mine… I hate fish of all kinds (for the most part). **

*******6****: And Sasori's a Scorpio. Ironic, isn't it? **

*******7****: Ok lookz, a cliffhanger! Duh duh duuuuuuuh.**


	11. Useless Chatter

**How wonderful! It is finally here! CHAPTER 11! This chapter was "co-written" (she wrote most of it since she LOST what I had before) with my editor, who is also a writer for FanFiction, so it may not sound like my usual writing style. Her pen name is currently Adeline Faery, if you want to check her out. Now without further ado, the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations.**

* * *

Sasori looked on in horror at the sight of the falling girl, but quickly stepped forward to catch her. _I guess I overestimated her hearing abilities, _he thought as he reached for her legs. _Such a troublesome girl, _but that thought was quickly replaced with another when her light body pressed against his wood-like self. Her head was tilted slightly back, resting in his arm, and her legs were dangling from his other arm. ^ _Is this woman purposely trying to seduce me? I just don't get them.* _He proceeded to carry her inside, and took her into his room. As he laid her down onto the bed, he resisted the sudden urge to pull her closer. While watching her unconscious face, he could not help feeling that if he did not figure out what was causing her to react this way soon, she would escape to somewhere far away, out of his reach. ^2

* * *

Deidara was watching Naoshime eating her mint chocolate chip ice cream.*2 _It's amazing how such a little girl with such a small tongue could possibly eat that much. _She was already on her fifth cone. He sighed, knowing full well that he would be yelled at later for letting a prisoner eat so much of their "hard earned" food, but it was the least he could do, since she was allowing his ugly presence to sully hers.*3

"Mhat are youm doming?" she asked, now munching on a strawberry*4, looking at his hand. He had been unconsciously molding clay into...wait her? He quickly squashed his creation with a tinge of regret, and crafted it into a bird instead. _Okay, okay, it was more than just a tinge, but I only did it to avoid explaining why it looked like her. It might have creeped her out, or worse, she might have actually liked it, and decide to show it to everyone, thus shaming myself. I can just imagine Itachi with that evil grin of his, and Sasori-danna possibly concocting strange ideas. They never appreciate my art._

Snapping out of reverie, Deidara remembered that the girl had asked him a question. "Oh, this? It's my art," he told her proudly. It was certainly a first. No one else had bothered asking before. *5 "Well, not entirely... You see, art is something that lasts for only a fleeting moment. Like an explosion," Deidara continued to "enlighten" her.

"Explode?" Naoshime asked in that sweet voice of hers, with her head cocked ever so slightly. "It goes BOOM?" She made wide arm gestures, and her voice leaked with excitement at this proposition. ^3 "I wanna see," she exclaimed, jumping up and down. _At long last, someone who genuinely appreciates my art, Deidara thought to himself. This girl is truly one of a kind. _

So they headed out to a large open field. A peaceful meadow with all sorts of wild flowers and wild grass growing untamed. It had the fresh, clean smell that belonged only to grass and the outdoors. Sadly, no animal dared to come near for fear of their lives. The reason being...

BOOM! BOOM! An earthquake seemed to have erupted. It was Deidara setting off "fireworks" for the curious girl. Instead of being frightened, she was literally squealing with excitement, shouting for "More, more!" ^4

* * *

"Get your ridiculously heavy self off of my bed," Nataru yelled upon awakening and seeing Sasori, who had been looking at her with intense scrutiny. She shot up and scrambled from the mattress. "Just what are you doing here?" She continued, attempting to shove him out of the room with no avail.

"Well, Miss Sleeping Beauty, if you would take a good look around—assuming you have eyes—you'll see that you are in MY bedroom," Sasori replied with a smirk on his face. He watched with obvious amusement as a hint of embarrassment appeared on Nataru's face while she surveyed the surroundings.

Now having fully recovered herself, "And I'm here because..." She had to choke out the words as the full realization of what he had done since she fainted hit her. _He caught me, then carried me into HIS bedchamber, put me onto HIS bed, and watched ME as I slept. I think I'm feeling sick again. _

"Oi, Oi now. Don't faint on me...again ." Sasori evaded her previous question, since it had not occurred to even him as to why, exactly, he had brought her into his room. "Or maybe you _want_ to stay in my bed a little longer. But you know, my ferocious dear, you don't have to pretend to faint." He could tell from the look of mortification on her face that he succeeded in distracting her mind from the question.

"Want to stay in this filthy room? Are you out of your mind? You sicken me down to the deepest pits of my stomach. Why would I want to stay here?" Nataru glared at him with eyes containing the power to burn a hole in one's soul.

"Oh, come on, you know you like me. I mean, why else would faint at the very sight of me?" He was truly quite curious, and this time he definitely wanted a reasonable answer.

"That had nothing to do with you," she quickly spat out. _There is absolutely no way I'll ever tell him. His teasing will literally kill me. _Unfortunately for her, making such a hasty response only intensified his thirst for an answer.

"You know, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you faint like that. Who would have thought that such a vicious girl couldn't sense me?" He continued his attack with a teasing smile.

"Whatever gave you that idea? I would know your presence from a hundred miles away. I only fainted because..." she abruptly stopped as she realized how far she had walked into his trap.

"Because...?" There was silence. "Very well then, don't answer. I already know it's because you love me so much. If it had been something offensive or likewise, you would have said so from the start. Besides, I had quite a nice view on the way up here, so I'll let it go,"

"Suit yourself," Nataru answered, having now regained her composure. "Wait...nice view? What view? All you have up here is a windowless wood-shop with puppets everywhere."

"Well, I did have to carry you."

Nataru clenched her hands together as she looked down her clothing, a skimpy pale shirt, that showed her figure remarkably well. "I'll kill you."

"Go ahead and try."

Nataru bit her tongue, in order to refrain herself from retaliating, and kicked at the wall instead. She stormed from the room, leaving Sasori to gape at the hole she left behind.

* * *

***: As in, women  
*2- Editor: I'm hungry and I want some too  
Naoshime:(some incomprehensible word)  
Editor: Please, with a cherry on top?  
Me: You understood that?  
Naoshime: Do I REALLY get a cherry?  
*3: Are we still feeling this way?  
Deidara: Uh, yeah.  
*4: Where'd she get that?  
Deidara: *shrugs*  
*5- Editor: Here we go again.  
Deidara:Hey! It's not my fault that nobody ever asks.  
Editor: That's because you go into a speech if they do.  
Deidara: That's the creator's fault.  
Me: HEY! Don't blame Kishimoto-sensei! (What if he has us cancelled? *shivers at thought*)  
Deidara: AHEM! He wants to explain to the audience my ability and so made me seem like a blabber mouth.  
Editor: *complete sarcasm* Right, right...  
**

**^-Editor: In case you can't tell from my descriptions, Sasori is carrying her bridal style.  
^2-Editor: So now, as a confused Sasori watches Nataru in her "sleep," let's give these two some time alone to sort through their thoughts, and turn to the adventures of Deidara and Naoshime.  
Me: Uh...  
^3-Editor: Isn't this a cool word?  
Me: What, 'proposition'? Yeah, I guess...  
^4-As for Deidara and Naoshime, they'll be going on like this for a while, so let's check on our cynical couple, Sasori and Nataru.  
Me: Must you announce EVERY scene change? **

**A/N: And there is Chapter 11! Much better than when I first wrote it, so it was worth the wait. Right? *runs from thrown objects* AHEM! So, if I feel like it, I'll put up 12 before Spring Break is over! Please Review!  
**


	12. Nostalgia

**Ah, I was in a good mood so, I'm giving you Chapter 12! Aren't I generous? (insert ridiculous laughter here) So, I'll leave you to it. Oh, and you'll noticed that I rediscovered the dash during this chapter, so I used it alot. Anyway... AHEM!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own_ Naruto_, or any of its associations. I also do not own the italicized song lyrics that I used to open and close the chapter for psychological reasons. **

* * *

_Mie nai kabe wo kowashite!  
Kikai no shikou demo  
Yume wo mushimau  
Kurai kako kowai mirai  
Ima wo shiberu kotoba wo hansuu suru riyuu  
Genkai wo shiru no wa  
Kuroi torikago no naka* _

Naoshime sighed deeply as she sat atop a medium sized boulder amongst all of the various wildflowers, swaying as the wind kissed them, in the meadow. She could not help but wonder why the flowers filled her with such strong feelings of nostalgia. Deidara left her some time ago, and she had been smelling the florets ever since. After she inhaled another burst of fragrance from the flowers, she remembered.

* * *

_~Flashback Begins~_

_Naoshime's P.O.V. _

Now I remember it perfectly. When we made our annual visit to our brother's impromptu grave, Nataru let me pick flowers in a meadow, much like this one. I was picking Rose Angels—like I usually did for him on his birthdays—to place by his tombstone. I also remember the reason why that day stands out to me more than any other day I was out picking flowers. That was the day that I made my promise for Nee-chan. I can almost feel everything that happened….

I was bending over to pick the seventeenth and last flower—that is how old he would have been turning—for the bouquet when the bandits showed up. They looked quite furious, and I remember being scared out of my mind. One of them—the fattest one of them all—pointed a dirty sausage-like finger at my sister and yelled at her, "You! You the one that done it! And you'll pay for it too!" Nowadays, it always seems as if someone or another wants Nee-chan to pay for something. But back then, I really could not grasp the meaning of the threat. Nee-chan just stared at the man icily, and I remember having to suppress a giggle because this grown man had an expression of pure fear flash across his face. He was actually scared. Scared! Of a ten-year-old girl! My sister! The thought was ludicrous. Well, it was back then. Back when the thought never occurred to me that in the two years we had been gone from home, Nataru and I both had done quite a bit of training. I also did not bother to remember that my sister had turned cold and grown quite distant. I never even attempted to think about yesterday—really! just the day before—when Nee-chan had actually killed a man. She was still my sister and I loved her unconditionally, without the slightest bit of fear. When the man had still gone unanswered for a number of minutes, another one—this one bald and muscular—stepped forward and spoke.

"You took the life of our leader. Now you will pay with your own."

"I did no such thing," Nee-chan hissed in a voice just above a whisper.

"You don't have to admit it. Just know why you'll die," the bald one nearly screamed as he pulled a broadsword from a sheath on his back. Seeing that man lunge himself at my sister, weapon in hand, probably terrified me more than any time afterwards when my own life was in danger. Maybe because I did not know that the man Nee-chan killed last night was indeed their leader, or maybe because Nee-chan flat out denied it, but I thought her to be completely innocent of everything.

One could imagine my surprise when she picked up a naginata from the ground and blocked the man's attack. When I asked before why she carried it, she told me that she had to use it for hunting and if need be, self-defense. I laugh now that I think about it. She said that it was for self-defense that we trained vigorously, and that it was for self-defense that she armed us both with deadly weapons as well. I know now that no one needed to go as far as we did for "self-defense." She was merely traingin us to be the ninja we never got the chance to be.

Nee-chan pushed the man back—honestly! A ten-year-old girl able to push away a fully grown bald and muscular man! He should be ashamed!—and followed up by thrusting the blade into the man's heart. As she withdrew her weapon it made a sickening squelching noise, and she coldly kicked him down. It was then when I realized that my sister had indeed matured quite a bit in the two years after our brother's death. The rest of the men—if they could be called such—charged at my sister, enraged to see their comrade fall so easily. It did not take long for Nataru to react. She sliced one across the stomach, severed an arm from another, and slashed numerous throats. I watched, stupefied, as my sister emotionlessly spilled their blood. _Could this really be the same person?_

Just as she seemed to be finishing off the last of them, I noticed the fat man sneaking up behind her, a machete in his hand. I tried to call out to her, warn her, but my mouth refused to obey and I could not make a sound. Nee-chan had just knocked the last man down when the fat one reached her, but by then it was too late. He brought down his weapon, trying to crush her skull, but she was able to move slightly, and instead he struck her shoulder. I must have been motivated by the sight of my wounded sister—staggering backwards, covered in her own blood—because before I knew it, I was there next to the man with some dead guy's battleaxe in my hand. He barely had enough time to look up at me before I brought down the first blow.

_Cling!*2_

He was quite quick for his weight. He pushed me back and tried his best to land a blow on me, but I reflected his attack and slid to my left. He quickly regained his composure and launched another attack at me. I shifted my body just a bit further left, just barely avoiding losing my right ear. He must have found me to be surprisingly nimble as well, because he stood there for a number of seconds, still in his attacking position. I seized the opportunity to attack, swinging the battleaxe towards his torso. I was completely shocked when he grabbed my arms, encasing them both in one rough pudgy hand. He gave a loud guffaw as he raised the machete above his head, preparing to strike down upon my own. I managed only to blink before it happened.

I noticed something sharp and shiny protruding from the man's chest. Blood seemed to be falling from the spot of impalement in gallons: the fat man could hardly utter a word before the thing was yanked from his body, and he staggered to the ground.*3 As I wrenched my arms form his cold, dead grip, Nataru ever so calmly commanded to me, "Clean off your face." I reached up to touch my cheek, but was immediately repulsed by what I found. Blood. Disgusted, I quickly began to rub my face—hard enough to peel skin. After my scrubbing frenzy, I surveyed the area around the two of us. Seven dead bodies, lying cold and still on the ground, blood staining the once beautiful wildflowers. I glanced at my sister and immediately rushed to her side. As I tended to her wounds, I made a silent vow to myself to become stronger, and more skilled, so that I could protect her. I never wanted to see her so weak and vulnerable again.

~Falshback Ends~

* * *

Naoshime sighed and lazily stood herself up. She took her bouquet of freshly picked flowers and began to amble slowly toward the hideout. She breathed in the sweet scent of the arrangement in her hands. Closing her eyes to help savor the sensation, Naoshime whispered quietly to the darkening sky above, "Happy Birthday… Onii-san."

_Mie nai mono o shinji te!  
Furueru ude demo  
Momoruniki tai  
Itoshi derakao  
Ima o susumu omai no tadori tsuku basho  
Kibou o miru no ha  
Kuroi semai sekai demo*4_

_

* * *

_

***: English Translation-**

**Break down the invisible walls**  
**Even with mechanical thoughts**  
**Dreams are ruined**  
**The reason you ruminate the shadowy past and the dreadful future**  
**And the bound words of the present:**  
**To know limits**  
**Is to be inside a black birdcage**

***2: I had an entire spatula battle with my brother just to pick the word to describe the noise.**

***3: Does that sound familiar?**

***4: English Translation-**

**Believing in things you cannot see**  
**Even with my trembling arms**  
**I want to protect someone dear to me**  
**The place my thought that progressed**  
**Up to now struggle on to**  
**To see hopes**  
**Even in a black, confined world**

**A/N: Wow, that was something... As for the dashes, sorry if they annoyed you. But, it's only fair that I warn you: I'm pretty sure that they only increase in number. Don't worry, I'm not going to turn into Emily Dickinson and put them after every five words or so... But they're so gosh darn fun to write! That's probably why she used them so much. I finished off the last of my old journal with Chapter 11 (so sad!) so I'm writing the rest of the story in a new one. This is important because when I write, I pretty much eyeball how long the chapters are, meaning I write about three pages front and back then I'm done with it. So, if the chapters seem a bit shorter than usual, it's because my new journal's pages are slightly smaller. Sorry for the inconvenience. Anyway, hope you enjoyed Chapter 12! Please Review.  
**


	13. Konan's Return

**Hello, people! I think I'm a week late, but I'm not sure. Oh well. So enjoy Chapter 13!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, nor any of its associations.  
**

* * *

Nataru lay quietly in her bed, waiting for sleep to come over her. She had spent the majority of the day avoiding Sasori, and now she could barely keep her eyes open. Who knew dodging a puppet would so tiring? It was around the time she heard Naoshime trying—and failing—to sneak in the room silently when Nataru finally drifted off into the realm of dreams.

* * *

The next morning Sasori stole a peek into the twins' room, only to find that Nataru was not there. He sighed, thinking to himself, _Well if she wants to keep avoiding me then I won't go looking for her. _He wandered into the main gathering room, plopped himself into a chair and rubbed his eyes. What had he done wrong? Though he promised himself he would not worry about it, Sasori could not help thinking that he was at fault somehow. Was it something he had said that sent her running? Why was this all so confusing? _Whatever, _he sighed. _I should just forget the entire thing. _He was wondering vaguely if any of the items in his collection needed when someone burst into the gathering room, disrupting the silence.

"I said I was sorry! Please s—ow!" Hidan rubbed the lump the thrown book had left behind.

"I swear Hidan, one more time and you're out!" a mysterious female voice threatened.

"I had no idea your ears were so delicate," Hidan grumbled under his breath.

The woman scowled at him as Sasori looked up and took notice of the…conversation.

"Konan? When did you get back?" he asked incredulously.

"Just now," was her apathetic reply.

"Is Pein with you?"

"No, he sent me ahead to deliver a message. Which I was going to do, but _someone_ unleashed a flurry of bad words as soon as I walked in the door!" she slapped Hidan across the back of his head as she spoke.

"Well maybe you should make sure some unsuspecting person isn't standing behind the door when you fling it open!"

"Don't talk to me that way," Konan scowled.

"Yes ma'am. I'm sorry." Hidan choked out the words reluctantly.

"Now go fetch everyone and tell them to meet up here." Hidan stormed away.

~Half an hour later~

"I have gathered you all here to deliver a message from our leader."

"What's the message, un?" Deidara asked eager to get back to "watching over" his favorite prisoner.

"I was getting to it." Konan rolled her eyes. "First, he would like you all to know that he is perfectly fine and he will return soon." There was silence. "Ahem!"

"Oh, wow! That's great."

"Really? I was so worried!"

"Such a relief. I missed him so much!"

"I love Pein-sama, un!"

Konan ceased the fake rejoice with a wave of her hand. "Second, he wants to inform you all that he will be returning with a new 'associate.' He sees this man as a very important piece that will help us achieve our goal. Therefore, when he arrives with this man, you will be on your _best_ behavior. If he backs out of the deal because of something one of you said or did, whoever is responsible will be punished. _Severely _punished. Do I make myself clear?" The other members mumbled their understanding. "Good," Konan continued. "That's all the information he sent me with. If there are no more questions, you are all dismissed."

"Who _is_ this new 'associate' guy anyway?"

Konan shrugged. "Some guy he found in the Land of Frost.*" Hidan frowned at her vagueness. "No more questions?" Nary a soul moved. "Alright then, you are free to go." One by one the Akatsuki members got up and filed out.

* * *

"So what was the meeting about?" asked the ever inquisitive Naoshime. "Did anything exciting happen?"

"Nah, it was just the usual boring stuff. Boss is okay, he'll be back soon. Those sorts of things. Oh, and he'll be bringing back a new 'associate.'"

"That sounds fun!"

"Not really. He's not the first. But all of the others thought we were just a bunch of buffoons, so they backed out, un."

"But…aren't you just a bunch of buffoons?"

"Yeah, but we're not allowed to say it out loud. Apparently, it's permanent if we do." Deidara nodded matter-of-factly.

"Oh…. Nee-chan, where are you going?" Nataru froze, irritated that her sister stopped her from quietly passing by.

"Why? Is it important to you?"

Naoshime shook her head. "No. But Sasori said that—"

"Sasori? Why was he talking to you? What did he tell you?" the paranoid Nataru demanded.

"He just told me that if I saw you, he would appreciate it if I told him where you were or where you were headed."

"Why did he tell you that? Why does he want to know? Is he looking for me?"

"Well…yeah. I thought that was obvious…."

"Oh shut up. I just can't think straight. Don't talk anymore. You're annoying me."

"Should you be talking to your sister that way?" Deidara interjected.

"You stay out of this," Nataru snapped and then she stormed away.

"Some sister, un."

"Oh, she's just cranky. She always gets that way when she's upset about something," Naoshime beamed.

"Still…I don't want her to yell at you that way. I don't like to see you verbally abused."

"Why don't you like to see me verbally abused?"

"D-well, I uh...um…I-I-I," he stuttered.

Naoshime could not suppress her giggle. "You could have just said that it's not nice," she explained as she nudged him playfully with her shoulder.

"It's not nice," he echoed.

* * *

Nataru plopped down on her bed, taking a well earned break. Again she had spent most of the day avoiding Sasori. It was so tiring and quite frankly, she was running out of places to hide. She rubbed her eyes, trying to rid them of their weariness. Just as she was contemplating what to do next, she heard a familiar sound. The deep wood-like thud of Sasori's feet, heading towards her room. She shot up like lightning, and attempted to run, but she had nowhere to go. And it was too late. Sasori calmly stepped in and locked the door behind him. He stared deeply into Nataru's shimmering green eyes for a moment or two before he said, "We have to talk."

* * *

***: I totally made that up just now.  
**

**A/N: There you go. I'm putting up Chapter 14 immediately because it would be bad luck to leave my story on thirteen chapters... Please review!  
**


	14. Affirmations of Ardor

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, nor any of its associations.**

* * *

Nataru was stunned. "Talk? Talk about what? We have nothing to talk about."

"Sure we do," Sasori sighed. "Like why you've been avoiding me for the past two days."

"I haven't been avoiding you! If I have, I wouldn't be here right now."

"If the windows weren't locked from the outside, you would have been long gone by the time I got here."

Nataru sighed, "Okay, I've been avoiding you. What of it?"

Sasori, surprisingly out of character*, grew timid and rocked on his heels. "I just wanted to know _why._ I mean, at first I thought I hated you—"

"Nice."

"—and then we kind of started to get along. But the very next day you pass out as soon as you see me and when you wake up you run away. I'm confused and I just want to know what's going on."

"Aw, poor little Sasori doesn't understand?"

"Don't tease me. I just want to clarify things."

"It all seems pretty simple to me. You're completely obsessed with me. I know that I'm the absolute best person that ever lived but, I'm not interested in becoming one of your dolls."

"I don't want to make you part of my collection…."

"Then stop creeping around me, you stalker."

"Just because I've been following you doesn't mean that I'm a stalker."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah…it means that I'm really a ninja and that I'm awesome at my job."

"Ha! Yeah, right! I knew you were following me the whole time!"

"Only because I wanted you to know." Sasori smirked and Nataru rolled her eyes. "But seriously, I think that I might actually like you."

"Oh Sasori!" She feigned surprise. "I had no idea!" she waved away his statement and continued sarcastically, "I should be so honored to be the object of your affection." Sasori suddenly slipped one hand into hers, placed the other on her forearm and pulled her closer. Nataru, completely stunned, could only blink as he gazed into her wide green eyes.

"I would really like to know how you feel about me right now." Nataru closed her eyes for a second, regaining her composure, and when she reopened them, she no longer had the expression of someone completely stupefied.

She was furious. "What are you doing? Let go of me!" She snatched away her arm and stormed towards the door. Sasori took a moment to respond, but he was able to catch her by her elbow before she left.

"Wait…." He froze when her piercing glare stabbed him.

"What?"

"I-I… I think…I think I love you…."*2

After the moment in which Nataru's brain processed what Sasori had said, she pressed her back against the door and slid down into a heap. She pressed her hands firmly against her ears and shook her head slowly. "No…no no no…no no…." She repeated the word over and over and over again. With her eyes pinched shut and her jaw set, she gradually increased volume. Sasori could only stand there and watch helplessly.

* * *

"Do you hear that?"

Deidara sighed deeply, "You know I can't." Naoshime had already explained to him the traditions of her clan and how she was trained – however briefly before her parents' disappearance – when she was younger. If fact, she had told him that five different times, each with a different story. But he remembered them all, nonetheless, and he knew that her hearing far surpassed his.

"I think it's my sister," she explained standing up briskly.

"Do you _have_ to go to her now, un?" Deidara pouted. He was enjoying the alone time he had with her.

"Uh… yeah. It sounds urgent."

"Is she asking you to help her?"

"Oh, stop your whining," Deidara was shocked to hear her speak that way, bet he followed her when she walked away anyway. "She needs me and I know it. She doesn't have to tell me." She reached for the room door and tried to push it open. It would not budge. A bit more forcefully, she pushed on the door again. Just enough room for her to squeeze in. As she slid through the crevice, she noticed that her sister was sitting on the ground, nearly in tears, and Sasori standing in the middle of the room petrified. Taking a deep breath, Naoshime went into action. She somehow managed to drag her sister away from the door and sit her on a bed. It took most of her strength to push an unwilling Sasori out of the room, and the rest of it to push it shut—working against the forces of both Sasori and Deidara—and lock it. She drew another deep breath, preparing to focus on her sister, who was now sitting silently and looking down absently. Naoshime sat next to her sister. "Tell me what happened."

Nataru tried to swallow the lump in her throat. "He…h—he… he told me he loved me." Naoshime fought the urge to pull out her hair and choked back the desire to punch Sasori in his face. She—unlike anyone else*—knew what horrible conflicting emotions her sister was facing. After the disappearance of her parents—and even more so after the death of their brother—Nataru had the sinking feeling that anyone she loved would be taken away from her. When Naoshime was the only one left, Nataru decided that outside force would only allow her to have one person to care about and have care for her in return. When Sasori announced his feelings for her—actually said them aloud—the connection between them became real. The outside force would realize it, and it might make her choose. Or even worse, it might just decide to take Naoshime away from her. Her twin was the only family she had left. Nataru did not think she would survive without her. Naoshime sighed.

"Listen Nee-chan. If there was something conspiring against you, don't you think it would have taken one of us away already? I mean, it's been obvious for a while how you two feel about each other…."

"But—"

"But nothing. It's about time you got over your fear of letting people in."

"Actually, I'm afraid of loving," Nataru corrected.

"Whatever! Just get over it because I'm letting him in here."

"No! Please don't!" Naoshime was already up and opening the door. Nataru watched helplessly as her twin slipped out and Sasori slid in.

"Are you better now?"

"Yeah. I'm just…tired."

"Oh, well then…I'll let you get some rest."

"Uh…. Thank you." Sasori shuffled to the door. Nataru sighed as her mind completed yet another inward battle. "Wait…." Sasori turned to confront her. Nataru walked up to him and took a deep breath. She rather hastily gave him a quick peck on his cheek, shoved him out of the room. And slammed the door shut in his face.

* * *

***: No duh. EVERYONE is OOC in this story...**  
***2: I had to close my eyes when I wrote this. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.**

**A/N: Oh the drama! Well, the next chapter is pretty much fluff so it's all good. I don't want anyone to die of a heart attack because I unleashed Chapter 16 on you too soon after THAT. And I was missing a day from my time frame. Just six more chapters~! Please re-nevermind. It doesn't really matter anymore. Hope you enjoyed though!**


	15. Hunger Strike! Hunger Strike! etc

**Happy Birthday Deidara! In your honor I shall post this Chapter which I have to half dedicate to my friend Cristallia(also a writer here on Fanfiction), since she came up with the idea for this chapter. Of course the other half is dedicated to Deidara, who comes out as so heroic in this chapter...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations. **

* * *

Konan glared across the table at the only other person breakfasting with her at noon. "So you're one of the prisoners?"

Naoshime lifted her head and stared at her. Konan looked at Naoshime in return and she could not help noticing that the girl resembled a chipmunk with her cheeks puffed full with food. But Konan did not find her nearly as cute. Which might have been a good thing because Konan hated cute. After another second or two, Naoshime swallowed what was in her mouth and grinned at the woman across from her. "Yeah, I am…. Surprised?"

Konan scowled, "You're just a little girl. And you're too happy. I hate happy." Then Konan got up and stormed out. Naoshime confused – and slightly fazed – looked down at her nearly empty plate of food and frowned.

* * *

"There you are, un!" Deidara greeted his favorite prisoner. Naoshime looked up and her once glum face broke into a smile.

"You were looking for me?"

"Kind of…. I stopped by your room earlier, but your sister said you were asleep. I did come back again – in fact that's where I'm coming from right now…."

"Oh. Sorry I wasn't up earlier. Now that I'm actually sleeping on a bed, I've been trying hard to relish it."

"You weren't sleeping on a bed before?" She had already told him about how she and her sister were in the midst of searching for something, but he did not mind learning the story again, as long as it came from her sweet lips.

* * *

-an hour or so later-

"You like me. You really, really like me."

"If you don't stop bothering me right now, I'll kill you," Nataru threatened the redhead.

"Oh, come on. You know you love it when I'm around."

"What made you think a ridiculous thing like that?"

"Didn't you kiss me on the cheek yesterday?"

"Ha! I only did that to make sure you would be too stunned to try to open the door. Who would've guessed that I left such an impression on you?"

"You've got to be kidding me! What made you think I would be stunned if you kissed me?"

"Hmm… I don't know. Was it when you said you really liked me, or when you said you loved me?"

"That was a low blow." Sasori pointed out. Nataru shrugged as Deidara oh-so inconspicuously rushed up to them.

"Oh um, hey guys! Did not see you there. But since you are there, have either of you seen Naoshime?"

"Nope," Nataru said.

"Danna?" Deidara was almost pleading.

"No, I didn't see her at all today," Sasori explained apologetically.

Deidara sighed, "Aw, man. I shouldn't have turned my back on her. It was just for a sec…ond…" Just then Naoshime walked by. "H-hey! There you are!"

"Huh?" She looked up blankly.

"Why so glum?" He looked her over with scrutinizing sapphire eyes.

"Oh…. I don't really know. I just – "

"Well it is almost two o'clock. Let's go get you something to eat."

"What? Oh, I'm not hungry." There was a moment of silence.

Suddenly, the other three burst into laughter. "You really had me going for a minute there," Nataru gasped between guffaws. Sasori looked as if he would have been in tears if his tear-ducts had not dried up long ago.

"You're really funny," Deidara cried when he was able to breathe. "Come on, I think Kisame made turkey for lunch." He grabbed her arm and began to lead her to the dining room. Naoshime planned her feet firmly on the ground and would not budge.

"I don't want to eat anything! Stop!" There was another moment of silence.

"Who are you and what have you done with my sister!" Nataru lunged for her throat but was restrained by a dumbfounded Sasori.

"Are you sure you're okay? Maybe you have a fever…." Deidara had a look of pure concern on his face.

"No! I mean – yes… I don't know!"

"What happened today? Maybe you ate something bad?"

"No… I only had breakfast with a blue-haired lady…." She began to frown.

"What's wrong now? Did she say something to you?" Deidara was like a bloodhound at a detective crime scene. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

"No… she didn't talk at all. Well, except right before she left." Her frown deepened.

"What. Did. She. Say?"

"Now I remember. She said that _I_ was too happy but then she said she didn't like happy. In fact, she hated it. Does that mean she hates me? I've never been hated before! Well, not by anyone who's still alive, but honestly! I don't want to be hated! I wish I could forget the whole thing!"

* * *

"Konan!" Deidara was furious. The papered woman looked up from her book in surprise.

"Is something wrong?" She tried hard to keep her face relatively blank.

"Don't play dumb! You know what you did was completely and totally unnecessary!"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"There was no reason for you to go and say what you said to her!"

"Her?" Konan had not spoken to anyone all day. Well, except for the prisoner at breakfast*. Could he possibly mean that girl? Deidara took a deep steadying breath as Konan murmured, "Oh."

"Do you have any idea of how much it affected her? I want you to apologize this instant!"

Konan stared at the newly defiant Deidara. Impressed by his nerve, she agreed to apologize.

* * *

"Man, you so like me." Sasori would not stop his teasing.

"Why are you so obsessed with that lie?"

"It's so not a lie! Did you or did you not completely stop moving the instant I put my arms around you?"

"Well, it just so happened to be the exact same moment I realized I was going to kill my own sister! I stopped moving because the thought was just that grotesque."

"Oh sure…." At that moment Naoshime ran up to her twin.

"Oh, Neeeeee-chan! I'm starving! I haven't eaten a thing since breakfast! Let's go get lunch now. Please?"

"You're fixed! Thank goodness, of course we can get lunch!" The twins walked away towards the dining room.

"Oh, Danna! It was so scary, un!"

"Deidara! Where did you come from?"

"I yelled at her. I really, actually yelled at Konan!"

"Um, okay…."

"I'm so glad that I'm alive!"

* * *

***: Why am I still calling it breakfast? It was so brunch….**

**Party, celebrate, go wild. It _is_ Deidara's birthday after all. Not like he's going to age though. He's still nineteen in my mind 1) 'Cause he's technically dead and 2) 'Cause he's not allowed to get older until I catch up with him... So anyway, hope you enjoyed!  
**


	16. Pein's New Associate

**Oh my, it feels as if it's been forever! My chapter really have become drastically shorter now that I'm writing them in my new journal. Ah, well! It's for the best! There's too much drama going on for me to have these super long chapters filled with nothing but fluff. You'd probably get angry with me. But, the drama is here, all in one condensed chapter for you to gape at until I update again. Onwards!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations.**

* * *

Naoshime was once again eating breakfast at noon, only this time, Konan had eaten earlier and was not present. Just as the raven-haired one finished the rest of her meat, Deidara rushed in. "Did you come for breakfast?"

"No, I came for you." And with that, he grabbed her arm and whisked her from the room. Naoshime started to protest but then she remembered, sadly, she had already finished eating. Deidara ran from hallway to hallway, turned corner after corner, and Naoshime was stumbling over her own feet trying to keep from being dragged. Not soon enough, they finally reached their destination; Deidara pulled open the door and shoved Naoshime into her room with her sister.

"Hey! Wait a min – "

"I'm so sorry, un!" Deidara pleaded as he closed the door behind her. As Naoshime banged on the door, demanding an exit, Deidara pulled out a key and locked the door from the outside. Turning away from the cries of the girl, he returned to the dining room and found Sasori who had just finished cleaning up the mess Naoshime had been forced to leave behind.

"So you found her?" Sasori asked.

"Yea, but –"

"And you put her in her room?"

"Yeah, but –"

"Did you lock the door?"

"Yeah, but about that…."

"What?"

"What makes you think that just a locked door will keep them in there?" Sasori's face went blank. Luckily for him, Konan stormed in at that moment and he did not have to answer,

"What are you two doing! Don't you know that Pein will be here any –" There was a loud booming noise emanating from the entrance hallway. "Never mind…." She grabbed the two by their collars and pulled them to the main gathering room for the conference Pein had called a head for. She was happy to see that the other members had made it there before Pein did, and as a result she pushed Sasori and Deidara into their chairs slightly less painfully than she would have. She sat down silently into her own chair, and at once, the group began to wait for Pein patiently. When the orange-haired leader at last walked in, he was accompanied by a man with unnaturally cold eyes. Pein directed the man to a seat and sat in his own. He surveyed the table with those evil, dominating eyes of his, piercing through their hearts. He cleared his throat lightly and began to speak.

"Good morning everyone. I have brought you here today to introduce you to our newest associate." He motioned the man with the perpetual icy gaze. "I stumbled upon him in my travels and we found that we have many similar goals. He holds a very strong interest in our operation, and he wants to know what can he do to know what can he do to help further our progress.

"During the brief meeting we are in the middle of, I'll let you ask him some questions to better understand him. Relevant, non-nonsensical (of that's a word), and rational questions. But first, he must know who you are." Pein motioned to each member in turn as he mentioned them. "Kisame Hoshigaki -An excellent swordsman– Itachi Uchiha, he killed his entire clan, Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori, -he's a puppet, literally – Deidara, our terrorist bomber, and Konan."

The man merely nodded a greeting. When the questions began, it was Deidara who spoke first. "What's your specialty?"

"Deception," was his one-word reply. Deidara nodded as if he understood, but he did not.

"Are you good at it?" Zestu asked.

"Very."

"Where did you find him again?" Konan asked.

"The Land of Frost," Pein answered.

"So you're from the Land of Frost?" Kisame questioned.

"No actually, my place of birth is in the Land of Lightning." Then Hidan's face brightened. Despite all of the motions, movements and gestures coming from Deidara and Sasori telling him otherwise, Hidan spoke up.

"Why, what a coincidence! We just brought in a couple of prisoners from the Land of Lightening."

"Oh yeah," Pein mumbled. "I still have to take care of those…."

"I could go get them now if you like. I'm sure our new associate would love to see how we handle our prisoners." One could easily see the excitement in Hidan's eyes.

"Yes actually, that would do nicely. Hop to it Hidan." Hidan nearly jumped out of his chair. He walked over to Deidara and held out his hand. Reluctantly, Deidara gave Hidan the key. Hidan jerked his hand away before Deidara could change his mind, and headed towards the prisoners' room.* The other members asked pointless questions while they waited for Hidan to return. When he did, he had the twins with him: He pushed them roughly into the room, and took his seat once more.

Naoshime scanned the room to find Deidara, but she decided it was best not to notice him because she knew she would be tempted to wave. Instead, she decided to look at her sister. She turned to her, and saw immediately that Nataru's expression was shocked, confused, and disbelieving all at once. Beginning to become somewhat puzzled herself, Naoshime followed her twin's gaze to see what was causing her to react this way. She noticed it immediately, the wood-toned brown of his hair, the handsomely chiseled structure of his face, the chilly blue eyes that had once held so much warmth.

"Nabushi…." Nataru breathed when she was finally able to speak.

It was their brother.

* * *

***Oh, Hidan! Why are you being so mean!**

**Did I really just do that? Why, yes I did. Hope you enjoyed!**


	17. Naoshime Shatters

**Well, hello there readers. I'm sure this chapter is a week late, and I'm deeply sorry for that. Last weekend I was actually trying to force myself out of my writers block and putting up this chapter completely slipped my mind. Again, I'm sorry, but it was for a good reason right? So anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations.**

* * *

The man looked up when he heard the whispered name, and glanced at the twins. An unknown feeling flashed across his eyes, only to disappear immediately, leaving them blank once more. Pein, not noticing his new "associate's" brief exhibition of emotion and turned immediately to his prisoners. "Them," he questioned. "They're the ones behind that mess? They're just a bunch of little girls! You have got to be kidding me! Tell me that this is a joke and that you've got the real captives hidden in a cellar or something." When no one said anything, Pein heaved an exasperated sigh but before he could launch himself into another rant, the brown-haired, blue-eyed man spoke.

"You had best not underestimate them. They might possess sacred power, unknown to the world."

"Ha! That's a likely story," Pein scoffed. "They both look like complete idiots to me. Ah well, Hidan! Kill them anyway…."

Nataru looked at her brother for help, but when he neither said nor did nothing, she turned away coldly. Hidan stood up with a grotesque, lopsided grin plastered to his face. "Gladly…" he whispered. Taking a step toward them, he reached into the pocket of his cloak.*

"So you're just going to sit there?" Naoshime asked with hurtful pang of disbelief. A majority of the people at the table looked at each other puzzled, to see if someone knew to whom she was referring. Deidara looked up at her with pain in his eyes, but he was not the one she was questioning.

"This is none of my business," the man replied coldly.

"None of your business? I'm your sister!" She seemed to on the verge of tears.

"But I have nothing to do with your decision to wrong these people."

"You had nothing to do w—ha!"

Nataru reached for her sister. "Naoshime, calm dow—"

"No!" The tears were beginning to fall. "I'm fine." She turned back to the aloof man. "You're supposed to be dead. To think we wasted of that time… trying to find answers. To find out why….when you're still alive the entire time. Why didn't you come back to us? Why'd you just leave us there, all alone? W—"

"Oh, you were fine…."

"We were eight! And we knew next to nothing of how to fend for ourselves! All these times when my sister—_our_ sister—nearly died trying to protect me, when we wouldn't have even been wherever we were if you had enough sense to come back to watch out for – "

The man sighed exasperatedly. "Naoshime, please shut up. You're giving me a headache…."

"How dare you? Why don't you just go back to being dead? I'm sick of you already. We've gotten along fine without you, so just die."

"Please stop your rambling. My head is pounding…."

"You're a disgrace! To think that you of all people would turn your back on your own flesh and blood. I can't believe I looked up to you!"

"I can't believe you are still talking…." That was when what was left of the wall restraining her shattered.

"I'll kill you myself if I have to," she hissed with tears streaming from green eyes. She lunged at the man, but Nataru managed to grab her.

"Naoshime, get a hold of yourself," she whispered.

The man stood, saying to Pein, "Well, if you let your prisoners have this much freedom…." He trailed off as he neared the twins. Walking over them, he took note of how pitiful Naoshime looked. He put his face near hers and the girl glowered menacingly. "Pathe—"

"Get away from her, you despicable bast—" Nataru was interrupted as her sister shot her arm forward to peel the smirk off of the man's face. He took a step backward, but just as he was about to laugh at her miserable attempt, she managed to land a blow to his jaw with her other hand. He rubbed his face and scowled as he evaded another attack, and another, and another. Naoshime brought up her knee to try to hit his stomach, but missed again. Every time she failed to make contact, her desire to hurt him, to make him pay for all time he had wasted grew. Again, she ferociously launched a fist at him, but he caught her by the arm. His vice-like grip threatening to snap her bone in two when Pein finally called;

"Someone! Take them away!" Deidara, who was frozen before, appalled at how his delicate ever-cheerful angel had become so violent, so fierce, sprung to his feet and rushed to Naoshime. He lifted her up, and dragged her over his shoulder, and left the room, with Nataru following close behind. Pein cleared his throat as his "associate" returned to the table and took his seat.

"So where were we?" the man asked in a frozen monotone.

Deidara sat Naoshime down on the floor. He gave her a saddened look, but exited the room when Nataru motioned for him to do so. Nataru closed the door behind him, and did something that she not done in nearly a decade. She hugged her sobbing sister.

* * *

***: Honestly though, Hidan what were getting? You are so stupid. **

**A/N: And there you have Chapter 17! Okay, I feel bad so I'll tell the truth. I half-lied up there. I did write a little, but I was mostly watching Bleach. I fell behind a while ago, so I decided to catch up. All of the ninety episodes I was behind I fit into one week. Amazing huh? Okay, I get it. You don't wish to hear it since it delayed this chapter. Gomen nasai.**


	18. Truth

**I named this chapter after the Arashi song I'm currently listening to (subconsiously though), and luckily the title fits! They've been working their way into my heads lately... Anyway, enjoy the chapter! Revelations are made! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations. I also do not own the italicized song lyrics that were added for psychological reasons.**

* * *

_Even though the incurable wound only eats at my heart_

_Even now I can't completely hold back my thoughts that dwell within the darkness_

Nabushi was the only one that remained at the table. He never expected to see his sisters again. Fate had an odd way of working things out sometimes. With Naoshime's tear-stained face popping in and out of his thoughts, he had never been more infuriated in his life. After all of the trouble he went through to ensure that they never crossed paths again, that he would never have to see their pitifu,l hurting faces again. He could remember the day so clearly….

-Flashback begins-

_Nabushi's P.O.V._

I turned around after I heard them break open the door. They should not have done it. I was already seething with anger because they were so late. They were supposed to have been there before I even made it home the previous day. Calming myself down, I walked slowly back towards the building not fitting of the title "home." When I arrived, I stole a quick glance inside. Their faces, once so pure and carefree, now terrified and panicking. The most concentrated feeling of disgust came over me. Pointless words came from his mouth.

"Oh there you are…." I waited patiently for him to attack. When he did, I let them drag me away. Once we were far enough away, they sat me down gently on the wet earth.

"You bastard," I hissed through gritted teeth. "I told you not to cut too deep."

"Sorry Nabu-kun," Daichi* shrugged as he released himself from his impersonation jutsu.

"We're allowed to call him that now?" Ryo*2 asked as he did the same.

"No, you're not!"

Daichi looked at me with a fake sadness in his eyes. "Why not, Nabu-kun?"

"Can we just leave now? They might start looking for us," I said.

"Are you sure it's the right thing to do?" Only Ryo would that bring that up now.

"Yes, I'm sure." I stood and began to walk eastward. Daichi and Ryo followed like the good friends they were. After stopping in a neighboring town to bandage my chest wound, we switched our direction and headed north.

Hearing my complaints about the depth of the cut, Daichi took it upon himself to make me shut up. "Oh come on, Nabu-kun. Look at it this way. It should leave this huge scar—"

"Nice."

"—and chicks dig scars. It'll make you look manly; you should be happy."

I only stopped complaining to get him to stop talking such nonsense. The days turned into weeks, which in turn became months. Before I knew it, an entire year had passed.

"Do you know what today is?" Another pointless question from Ryo.

"No."

"What?" Why was Daichi always so loud? "How could you forget your own sisters' birthday?"

"Why should I remember?"

"Are you sure leaving them was okay?"

"Ryo, how many times do I have to tell you that they're better off?"

"It may not be too late…."

"I don't want them in the way."

"If you're worried about them not forgiving you then—"

"I don't deserve to be forgiven for what I've done."

"Too true," Daichi mumbled with his mouth full of what was probably the last of our food supply.

"That's beside the point." Ryo glared at Daichi. "Do you really think checking in on them every once in a while is enough to insure their safety?"

"No," I growled. "But even doing just that is keeping their lives in danger."

"Honestly, Nabu-kun," Daichi started after he swallowed what really was the last of our food supply. "I don't think that Yuri*3 guy really meant it when he said he would go after them."

"You're saying that just now?"

He shrugged. "I thought of it just now."

"Well it's too late for it…."

"Why don't we just kill the Yuri person?" Why did Daichi always think that things were so easy?

"It's against my principles."

"What principles? You abandoned your sisters!" I would have to punch Ryo for saying that later.

"Now now, Ryo," Daichi silenced him before I did. "They were never completely abandoned. He watches them from afar, as does Reiko*4."

"I still think it's wrong…." Leave it to Ryo to make me feel guiltier and even more disgusted with myself.

Another eight years passed before I met Pein. I encountered him by sheer bad luck, and I—being the coward I am—lied to him about everything he wanted to know about me in order to keep myself alive. He told me I should return to his hideout with him and I convinced Daichi and Ryo to stay behind—or at least wait a bit before they followed. The trip took a while and we arrived only three days after my birthday. I never imagined I would see them again. I was still avoiding them—only because I felt that I could not face them, for Daichi killed Yuri years ago. I still cannot fathom how I was able to be so distant towards them. I guessed my specialty is deception after all. Maybe now they will hate me so much that they will never want to see my shameful face again.

_A secret no one, no one knows about_

_As I fall, fall, fall_

_I certainly can't return anymore even if I carve out my sins, surely_

* * *

***: Holy gosh, I love that name, even though I almost put Daisuke….**

***2: Good thing I didn't put Daisuke since I named the other one Ryo. I don't want all of my characters named after the members of MTH. Pray that I don't put 'Ue' in anyone's name….**

***3: Almost did it. Change it to 'Yuri' at the last second. **

***4: Daichi's girlfriend. Not that it matters, since she doesn't appear in the story….**

**A/N: The song lyrics are from a song of ON/OFF's but I translated them directly into the story 'cause I felt like it. So, what'd you think? Hope you found this chapter interesting. I need to get a move on because the story is almost over. **


	19. Confrontations

**Hello there dear readers! I meant to put this chapter up yesterday, but trust me, it's a good thing I didn't. I would have just uploaded it while being half-asleep and not even looking over all the mistakes my friend purposely made while typing it up for me. It was a diaster, and I cleaned it up for you because I care that much. ;) Even though this is one of my shorter chapters and I forgot what was in it until I reread it, I really think this might be my favorite. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did~!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations.**

* * *

Sasori looked a Nataru with wide brown eyes. "Are you sure about this?"

"Are you still questioning me?"

"Hey, I'm just concerned about your emotional well-being."

"Just take me to him!" He obeyed.

They trekked through the halls in silence, and at last, he stopped her in front of a door.

"This is it…."

"Thank you," she coughed. Sasori grabbed Nataru's elbow as she began to turn away, and she swiveled to face him again. "What?"

"Just….be careful." His eyes were wide with concern.

"I'll be fine!" She brushed away his hand. Sasori sighed melodramatically as Nataru opened the door and walked in.

Just as she closed the door behind her, he looked up. Taking a deep breath, Nataru opened her mouth to speak to her brother – calmly – for the first time in nine years. "What the hell is your problem!" Okay, not that calmly. "How could you abandon two eight-year-old little girls! You are beyond a bastard! You're a jerk, a – a jackass! A piece of horse dung! I can't bel –"

"I don't want to hear it."

"I don't care what you want and don't want to hear! You're going to listen to m – "

"And you honestly think you're more mature than her? You're just the same. I honestly could not care less of what you think of me or what you can't believe. I did what I did for a reason – that's that."

"What did you do it for then?"

Nabushi looked up at his tearful sister. He had not anticipated her asking him to tell his side of the story. He thought she would just keep yelling at him. It was better that way – easier for him to be cold to her that way.* He cleared his throat, trying to stall. He needed to think of something malicious sounding. "It's complicated…."

"I just want to know why, I don't care if it confuses me."

Nabushi sighed. Looking up at her hurt face, he knew he would not have the strength to lie to her. He began to unfold the tale, starting with the very beginning. He told her of Yuri, the bitter boy who was determined to ruin his life*2, of Yuri's threat to their lives, of how his fifteen-year-old mind somehow thought it was best to just leave them. He explained to her how he made sure someone checked in on them every once in a while, even they had made things more difficult by occasionally leaving the village, and even more so when they left for good. When he completed weaving his tale, he looked up at her*3 expectantly.

Nataru stood there is silence, absorbing all that she had been told in the past half hour or so.*4 "You dumbass!" She shouted as she lunged a fist at him. Though he was caught some what off guard, he managed to dodge her attack. But alas, when she grabbed his shirt, he was too slow to move away.

"That is no reason to abandon your family! We should have stuck together! Borne each others burdens! You had no right to be so selfish!"

"I'm sorry…."

"Don't apologize to me! Go say you're sorry to the one that mourned you every day up until now. No matter how much it traumatized me, it was ten times worse for her." Nataru pushed him away and stormed from the room leaving Nabushi alone to wonder for the umpteenth time, if what he did was really right.

* * *

"Is that all, un?"

"Actually…I wouldn't mind some yakisoba…."

"Got it!" Deidara scurried off to find all of the various foods Naoshime had listed for him. She acted as if she was liking all the attention, but in reality, she wanted to be left alone for a while. Not that she would tell Deidara that; he seemed to be enjoying making her feel better.

She sighed. Glad to finally have some space while Deidara went to find her treats. Her solitude would not last though, she could hear those oh-so familiar mellow footsteps approaching. She contemplated whether she should hide or not, but in the end she took too long deciding and he found her.

He cleared his throat before the spoke. "I came to apologize. Nataru helped me realize that what I did was exceedingly pointless, and that it affected you greatly. So…I'm sorry."

She sniffed. "Why'd you do it?"

"Because I was stupid."

"Well, as long as you said it first…."

"Actually, Nataru said it first."

"Oh," she shrugged. "Close enough. I guess I can forgive you."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"After all of the trouble I caused?"

"Well, I've been getting a lot food lately…"

"That explains it."

Naoshime grinned as Deidara walked up, his arm full with only half of the things his favorite prisoner mentioned.

"This is all I could fit into my arms, the rest will take a second trip," he explained.

* * *

"Glad to see that your little episode didn't change your decision to help us," Pein said as he motioned for Nabushi to take the seat opposite him. "What can I help you with, now?"

"I wanted to talk to you about your prisoners."

"I'm truly sorry for their audacity. I heard that they were living quite the lax life while I was away. I assure you that it never would have happened had I – "

"That's not what I was referring to."

"Oh?" Pein raised an eyebrow.

"Under what circumstances would you allow them to leave unharmed?"

"None! They destroyed the entire operation I had in the Land of Lightening – "

"But if they promised to never touch a man of yours again?"

"It's still preposterous! Me? Let go of a prisoner?" Pein found the idea so ludicrous he was about to burst into laughter.

"Please. I'm begging you. They've done nothing wrong – "

"Ha!" Pein found that comment to be particularly funny.

"If not for me, they would not have even interacted with your spies."

"So you take the blame?"

Nabushi took a deep breath, readying himself to be courageous for the first time.*6 "Yes, I do."

* * *

***: I skipped an entire paragraph that I wanted to put in. -.-**

***2: For reasons unknown to even me…. I **_**might **_**write a prequel or something explaining why later. If you want me to.**

***3: He's sitting and she stood the entire time.**

***4: Wow…he can talk.**

***5: Not necessarily, but you get the idea.**

**A/N: How did you like that? I'm telling you now, the next chapter will be the last official chapter. I'm still sad even though I wrote it months ago! Luckily though, the way I ended that chapter it sounded really lame, so I wrote an epilogue as well. I may or may not post them at the same time... Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**


	20. Farewells

**The final chapter, and it's a week late! (Talk about building suspense...) Please forgive me (if you even cared), and accept the epilogue as a gift. No more school~ (Had to throw that in there.) Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations. **

* * *

"So how'd it go?"

_Darn it! How'd he find me?_ Nataru turned to face the red-head. "Aren't you a bit late?"

"Well maybe if you would stop hiding from me, I could actually get to you on time. What are you still avoiding me for anyway? I thought we moved pass that."

"We? Since when had there been a 'we'!"

"Since we got together." Sassari grinned.

Nature's heart skipped a beat. "And when was that?"

Sasori scratched his head. "Uh…. About two days ago."

"You're delusional."

"But don't you love me?"

"Of course not!"

"Why not? I love you."

"Don't...! Say that out loud."

"Why?"

"It sounds weird."

"What are you doing anyway?" Sasori motioned to the mess strewn about the room.

"Um…..I'm selecting the few things I wish to keep.*"

"Why is that?"

"Because all of it won't fit into my bag."

"Why are you putting stuff into your bag?"

"Because that's essentially what you do when you're packing…." Her voice trailed off.

"Why are you packing?" The emotion in his voice was something between anger, sadness, and confusion.

"Because that's essentially what you do when you're going to leave a place."

"You think you're going to be able to leave?"

She turned to face him. "My brother…he talked to your leader, and managed to convince him to let me and Naoshime go."

"When did this happen?"

"Just now."

"And you're leaving already?"

"He told me I should."

Sasori swore under his breath. "Well, I don't think you'll leave."

"Why not?"

"You won't be able to."

"I already told you that – "

"Even so, did you really think I'd let you just walk away?"

"I was hoping I wouldn't see you."

"You're so selfish," Sasori exclaimed with both the volume and anger of his voice escalating. "Did you once think of how I would feel?"

"Stop talking like that!"

"Like what?"

"Like you love me or something!"

"But I do," Sasori said, lowering his voice just above a whisper. "And you know that…."

* * *

"It's not true is it?"

"What is?"

"I heard that you're leaving, un."

"Oh," Naoshime looked down at her feet. "Yeah, it is…."

Deidara scratched at his head awkwardly. "So….When are you leaving?"

"As soon as Nee-chan is ready."

"Oh. Y-you…were doing to say goodbye right?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Of course!"

"Look, just leave me alone!" Both Naoshime and Deidara glanced around, trying to find the source of the voice. They did not have to search long, because Nataru rounded the corner and stormed down the hallway they were in. Sasori was following after her, his eyes filled with hurt, like a puppy being left behind by his master.

"Okay, I'm done arguing! Can we just talk peacefully before you leave?" he pleaded.

"Come on Naoshime. We're leaving now," Nataru grunted as she grabbed her sister's arm and dragged her along behind her.

"But I didn't say—" She reached out for Deidara.

Around and around the hideout they went, Nataru dragging her sister wherever she pleased with Deidara and Sasori trailing behind loyally. Nataru finally reached the entrance hallway and was about to wrench open the doors. "Can I please say goodbye?" Naoshime begged.

"Fine," Nataru released her twin and extended her arm to drab the doorknob the same time Sasori extended an arm to grab hers.

"Just at least say the words 'good bye' to me."

Nataru rolled her eyes. "Good bye, Sasori."

"I'll miss you…."

"Don't."

"Why not?"

"Because knowing that you're missing me will only make me miss you."

Sasori shrugged. "So?"

"I don't know how to handle those kinds of feelings."

"Deal with it."

She growled as Sasori awkwardly put his arms around her.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Naoshime nearly sobbed. Deidara hugged the girl tightly, on the verge of tears himself.*2

"I really don't want you to go…."

Nabushi cleared his throat as he walked up and was surprised to see how quickly everyone separated. "Are you both ready to go?" They nodded. "Well, then this is goodbye. You both should hurry while it's still daylight."

"We should hurry? What about you?" Nataru asked.

"I'm staying behind."

"What? Why?"

"Their leader wasn't going to let you go without getting anything in return."

"But that's not fair!" Naoshime whined.

"Actually, it i—"

"No!" She stomped her foot. "We just got you back."

"I'm sorry…but it's the only way to make sure the both of you leave here safely."

"Well," Sasori started. "_You_ could leave, and _they_ could stay. We'll watch over them!"

"Sasori…." Nataru growled.

"Oh! You could just leave Naoshime behind! People like her too much to kill her," Deidara explained.

"Are you kidding? Nataru's hard-core! She'd last longer than her sister ever would!" That earned Sasori a slap to his head.

"We don't want to go anywhere without you," Nataru started.

"So you'll just all stay, un!"

"Hey!" Everyone looked up to see who spoke. Pein was scowling down on them menacingly. "My God, you're all so annoying. Just leave now."

"But – "Naoshime squeaked.

"Just listen to him, and go." Nataru wanted to kill her brother.

Pein spoke again. "You go with them."

"What?"

"I'm sick of all three of you, so go."

"We can't keep the cute one, un?"

"Yeah, can't we keep Nataru?"

"Sasori!" Nataru hissed.

"Just go now…." Pein's patience was wearing thin.

Nabushi, being the slight coward he is, walked out of the doors. Naoshime, not wanting to be left behind by her brother again, gave Deidara a quick hug and slipped out after him.

"Don't go," Sasori whispered. "They already left. They won't notice!"

"No! I have t—"She stopped speaking when she felt Sasori's lips press against hers. Pein looked away as his subordinate passionately kissed the love of his life. When he finally pulled away, Sasori just glazed down at her still somewhat confused face.

"A—" Nataru opened her mouth to speak but no words would come.

"Go now, while I'm still happy."

"Bu—"

"Leave."

Nataru awkwardly stumbled out of the doors and she could not help feeling that the outside force had won again.*3

-End Story-

* * *

***: When you are the object of Sasori's affection, you tend to accumulate a lot of gifts (whether you want to or not)**

***2: Not really but, you get the idea.**

***3: Lame ending. I know.**

**A/N: Well, _that_ was a lot dialogue. Hope you liked it.**


	21. Epilogue

**And here is the epilogue! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Naruto_, or any of its associations. **

* * *

"So… no dramatic rescue needed?"

Nabushi sighed exasperatedly. "I told you before that I didn't want you following after me."

Naoshime giggled as she said, "Oh, Daichi-nii. You're so silly!"

"What are you talking about? I'm more serious than you could ever be!" Daichi looked smug.

"_Ha_! In your dreams! I'm sure we all know that you don't have a serious bone in your body!"

"Oh, and you do?"

"Of course! After all I—"

"Does anyone know why she's so quiet?" Ryo interrupted. All at once, everyone stole a quick glance backward at the lagging Nataru. She had not spoken a word to anyone in the entire three days their trip had taken so far, and she often went off to sulk by herself. Nataru was also sighing far too often, which was extremely new to her. Naoshime shook her head sadly, trying to repress her own desolate feelings, as she turned around and fell into step with her sister.

"So, uh…Nee-chan, how about we—"

"I'm fine. Go back up there with the others." Nataru stared at her feet while speaking.

"You should be fine... I mean, if he really is the creeper you say he is, he's probably following behind us at his very moment."

"He? Who's he?" Nataru asked as if she did not understand.

"Stop being that way. You are allowed to say you miss him…"

"Who am I suppose to be missing? We have our brother back."

"And you can't love both?"

"Where is this 'love' coming from?"

"You should just stop being difficult!"

"Who's being difficult? I'm actually being very compromising, dealing with what was given to me."

"Given to you?" Naoshime was raising her voice now, causing the three men to glance back at them. "Don't tell me you're going back to that 'outside force working against you' stuff! Get a hold of yourself, and maybe you'll be 'allowed' to love him."

"I've never seen her this way before," Ryo murmured.

"Yeah, I guess she does have a few serious bones in her body," Daichi scratched his head as he spoke.

Nataru glowered ferociously at her sister, trying hard to restrain her anger – and failing. She stopped walking suddenly, and clenched her fists. "Just who do you think you are, bossing me around like that? I'm your elder!"

"By two minutes!" Naoshime had stopped moving as well, and her face was growing redder by the second.

"You still have no right to be telling me it's okay to feel this way, when you haven't even shed a tear! You, the weakest person I've ever met, did not even _think _about crying when you left your so-called 'soul-mate,' so why should I?"

"It doesn't matter if I've cried or not! I still think about him every day and I acknowledge the fact that I miss him, which is more than anyone can say for you!"

Daichi turned to the girls' speechless elder brother. "Do you want to be hearing this?"

Nabushi shook his head. "Not really…."

Ryo then turned to the still arguing twins and said, "Well uh... We're going to go look for lunch….We'll be back." And the three disappeared.*

"I'm through bothering!" Naoshime seemed genuinely furious now. "You go ahead and keep pretending you feel nothing, and when your emotions eat away at you, and you die a pitiful death from pining (for Sasori), I'll laugh!"

Nataru gasped. "You don't mean that."

"Yes, I do."

"Fine! When I die a pitiful death from pining (for Sasori), and you laugh, I'll come back to haunt you!"

Naoshime opened her mouth to respond, but she could not think of a good enough comeback, especially because they were already getting sillier and more childish. She glanced over to her sister and sighed. Though Nataru may have seemed to Naoshime like she was seething with anger, she was really just filled to the brim with disappointment. Disappointed with her sister for being right, disappointed with Sasori for not being more persistent, but most of all, she was disappointed with herself*2 for acting this way. Nataru sighed as well, and looked up her sister, then back down to her feet. "I'm…sorry."

She could not stop the smile that split her face in two as she said, "It's okay. I know how you get sometimes."

At that moment, Daichi burst forth from the shrubbery and proclaimed, "Well, now that the coast is clear, let's really go get lunch!"

* * *

That night was the first time since their travels had begun that Nataru slept near the other four. It was relieving to see her sleeping so peacefully, as opposed to the tossing and turning that came to her before. A tranquil, loving sigh passed through the trees like a soft, warm breeze. Its nimble shadow loomed silently over her sleeping body. There was an almost inaudible rustle as the figure reached into a cloak of sorts, and pulled out a scrap of paper and placed it gently under her finger. And then vanished without a trace.

When Nataru awoke the next morning, she was vaguely aware that all of the tension that had been building up in her body up until now was gone. She sat up to stretch, but stoppped with her arms in the air as a flash of white caught her eye. She looked around cautiously, but started to relax when she saw it was just a piece of paper that had fallen onto her lap. She picked it up and looked it over. The paper was folded in half, and her name was written somewhat robotically, but neatly, on the front. She straightened out of the paper, and when she noticed the writing inside, began to read.

_I know how much you're loving me and missing me right now,*3 so I went through the trouble of writing this letter for you. I can't- shouldn't - tell you much, but I will tell you that I'm loving you and missing you also*4 and Deidara told me to say something about how he loves your sister. I forgot the exact wording. So anyway, I'm watching you from the shadows,*5 so you don't have to worry about me losing you. When the time is right, I'll take you away again. Until then, wait patiently, and try not to miss me too much._

_With much love,_

_Sasori _

"Just who does he think he is?" And yet, she folded the paper gently, and started counting the minutes.

* * *

***: Well….there goes any comic relief I planned for.  
*****2: As she should be  
*****3: She snorts here  
*****4: She snorts harder here  
*****5: Like he always does**

**A/N: And that's it! It's over! No more! Kinda sad... Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed my story, and you have my greatest thanks for reading. **


End file.
